TJUL  JOSePH  SACHS 

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The  Changing  Museum  Idea 
The  New  Museum  Series : By  J.  C.  Dana 

No.  1 The  New  Museum,  1917.  Especially  useful 
to  those  beginning  museums.  List  of  mu- 
seums that  will  help  you.  Books  and  articles 
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No.  2 The  Gloom  of  the  Museum ; with  sugges- 
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No.  3 Installation  of  a Speaker,  1918.  An  effort  to 
carry  over  into  another  field  one  of  the  few 
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arts  of  life.  Illustrated.  $1.50. 

No.  4 A Plan  for  a New  Museum : the  Kind  of 
Museum  it  will  profit  a city  to  maintain, 
1920.  Constructive : built  on  facts,  plus  im- 
agination : a record  and  a prophecy.  $2.00. 

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The  Elm  Tree  Press 

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A Plan  for  a New  Museum 

The  Kind  of  Museum  it  Will  Profit 
a City  to  Maintain 

By  John  Cotton  Dana 


No.  4 of  the  New  Museum  Series 


The  Elm  Tree  Press  : Woodstock  Vermont 
1920 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 


in  2015 


■N  ' ’ ' ■ 


https://archive.org/detaiis/pianfornewmuseunnOOdana 


INTRODUCTION 


I read  a paper  on  " Increasing  the  Usefulness  of  Museums  ” at 
the  meeting  of  the  American  Association  of  Museums,  May, 
1916,  in  Washington,  D.  C.,  and  it  was  printed  in  the  proceedings 
of  that  Association. 

Although  a few  of  the  suggestions  and  criticisms  here  set  forth 
were  presented  in  that  paper,  this  book  is  more  than  a revision 
of  it.  I have  rewritten  it  and  added  to  it  further  suggestions  of 
my  own  and  others  from  the  museum  literature  of  the  past 
three  years. 

It  is  now  much  less  a prophecy  and  much  more  a record  than 
it  was  when  it  was  read  in  first  draft  to  a group  of  museum 
workers.  The  suggestion  that  museums  should  be  of  definite 
value  to  the  communities  which  maintain  them  is  now  quite 
generally  accepted,  and  is  being  worked  out  in  practice  as  rapid- 
ly, perhaps,  as  the  indifference  of  the  public,  the  conservatism 
of  trustees  and  the  incubus  of  expertness  will  permit. 

This  is  the  fourth  of  a series  of  small  volumes  on  museums 
that  I have  written  in  recent  years ; volumes  that  I must  frankly 
admit  are  little  more  than  essays.  I have  published  them  at  my 
own  expense,  partly  to  please  myself  and  partly  because  I found 
they  were  not  acceptable  to  publishers  of  either  books  or  journ- 
als. Elsewhere  I have  given  a brief  statement  of  how  they  came 
to  be  written. 

In  May,  1919, 1 read  a paper  to  the  trustees  of  the  Newark 
Museum  Association,  which  was  afterwards  published  as  a pam- 
phlet with  the  title  "'The New  Relations  of  Museums  and  Indus- 
tries — the  Story  of  the  first  ten  years  of  a group  of  Experimen- 
tal Museums.”  In  an  appendix  to  this  paper  was  included  a 


4 


A PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


brief  summary  of  the  activities  of  the  Newark  Museums.  This 
summary  tries  to  make  emphatic  my  feeling  that  all  museum 
work  is  to-day  experimental,  and  should  be  frankly  regarded  as 
such,  even  by  those  who  are  developing  and  managing  our  larg- 
est and  richest  museums.  A glance  at  a ” Summary  ” in  that 
pamphlet  will  show  that  we  have  here  in  Newark,  in  a very  mod- 
est way,  made  trial  of  many  of  the  forms  of  activity  mentioned 
in  this  volume.  This  fact  does  not  prove  that  those  forms  of  ac- 
tivity are  fundamentally  good ; it  does  show  that  they  can  be 
carried  out,  and,  by  so  much,  shows  that  my  mention  of  them, 
and  of  others  akin  to  them,  is  based  on  more  than  imagination. 

J.  C.  D. 

Newark  New  Jersey 
June  1920 


CONTENTS— INDEX 


Page 

Introduction  3 

Museum  brains  vs.  conventions  10 

A new  museum  12 

Institute  of  Visual  Instruction  13 

Location  and  size  of  museum  herein  described  14 

Quality  of  the  staff  17 

Quality  and  choice  of  collections  17 

One  painting  exhibits  19 

Prints : descriptive  leaflets  20 

Exhibits  of  local  products  23 

Promotion  of  industrial  art  in  England  27 

Museum’s  chief  function,  teaching  not  gazing  28 

Relative  cost  of  old  and  new  type  of  museums  29 

Metropolitan’s  " Commercial  ” exhibit  31 

" Art  in  Everyday  Life  ” in  Buffalo  gallery  32 

Fundamental  industries  displayed  in  Newark  Museum  32 

Habitat  groups  and  pictures  33 

The  era  of  the  picture  34 

Objects  of  art  to  be  studied  and  not  worshipped  36 

Science  collections  in  a Visual  Instruction  Institute  37 

Work  of  pupils  in  schools  38 

Development  of  industrial  processes  40 

Department  Store  vs.  Museum  41 

Experiments  in  museum  teaching  42 

Public  library  and  museum  42 

Study  of  the  city  by  museum  staff  44 

Cooperation : schools,  museums  and  parks  46 

Student  workers  47 

The  museum  a workshop  of  education  49 

Branch  museums  and  the  lending  of  objects  50 

Educational  functions  of  the  museum  53 

Museum’s  definitfe  value  54 

Museums  of  storage-warehouse  type  55 

The  museum  and  the  workers  of  to-day  » • ' ' 57 


A Plan  for  a Useful  Museum 

A Record  and  a Prophecy 


It  is  easy  for  a museum  to  get  objects ; it  is  hard  for  a museum  to 
get  brains.  The  objects  are  seen,  talked  about,  wondered  at  and 
bring  praise  to  those  who  give  them  and  prestige  to  those  who 
choose  them  for  purchase.  The  brains  are  not  seen,  are  chiefly 
in  the  heads  of  hirelings,  produce  results  slowly,  and  the  results 
produced  are  seen  only  by  those  with  a gift  for  education  or  with 
training  and  experience  in  it.  But,  objects  do  not  make  a 
“museum;”  they  merely  form  a “collection.” 

What  is  true  of  museum  objects,— rare,  wonder-producing 
and  pride-evoking  objects, — is  true  also  of  museum  buildings.  It 
is  easy  to  get  them,  much  easier  than  to  get  museum  brains.  They 
are  large,  monumental,  obtrusive,  make  impressive  photographs, 
help  to  give  cities  plausible  reasons  for  existence,  furnish  to  do- 
nors a refined  publicity  for  unselfish  expenditures  and  endow 
laborious  trustees  with  a sense  of  duty  done  and  with  the  immor- 
tality of  bronze  tablets.  But  a building  of  the  kind  that  is  usually 
constructed  to  house  a museum,  is  not  in  itself  a museum;  it  is 
almost  always  a storehouse  for  " collections.” 

Probably  no  more  useless  public  institution,  useless  relatively 
to  its  cost,  was  ever  devised  than  that  popular  ideal,  the  classical 
building  of  a museum  of  art,  filled  with  rare  and  costly  objects. 
And  it  adds  to  its  inutility  a certain  power  for  harm.  To  its  com- 
munity it  gives  a specious  promise  of  artistic  regeneration,  and 
it  permits  those  who  visit  it  to  put  on  certain  integuments  of 


10 


PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


culture  which,  although  they  do  not  conceal  esthetic  nakedness, 
inhibit  the  free  exercise  of  both  intellect  and  sensibility. 

What  I mean  is  this:  Museums,  and  especially  art  museums, 
are  social  conventions  or  community  fashions.  When  a city  puts 
on  a museum  it  puts  it  on  in  obedience  to  the  dictates  of  muni- 
cipal fashion ; it  erects  a museum  building  in  accordance  with 
current  architectural  fashion ; and  it  places  in  the  building  ob- 
jects selected  after  the  fashion  of  art  museums.  These  municipal, 
architectural  and  museum-object  fashions  are  becoming  out  of 
date.  Conformity  to  them  is  not  useful,  but  moderately  harmful 
and  gives  to  conformists  the  notion  that  they]  are  doing  some- 
thing which  in  fact  they  are  not  doing. 

To  conform  to  all  these  things  is  easy,  as  is  all  conformity. 
To  get  brains  into  museums  is  difficult,  because  brains  object  to 
mere  conformity ; brains  criticize  fashions  and  promote  those  un- 
usual activities  which  are  so  painful,  after  the  universal  laws  of 
neophobia,  to  almost  all  good  citizens  and  especially  to  promi- 
nent and  wealthy  ones. 

If,  now,  museums  are  to  be  of  greater  use  to  the  world,  here 
are  the  things  that  museum  brains  must  fight  against : — fash- 
ionable museum  buildings,  fashionable  museum  collections  and 
fashionable  treatment  of  collections. 

And  here  are  the  things  they  must  fight  for : — the  making  of 
such  collections,  and  the  construction  of  such  buildings,  and  the 
employment  of  persons  of  such  skill,  and  the  granting  to  those 
persons  such  powers  and  liberties  as  will  compel  the  collections, 
the  buildings  and  the  staffs  all  to  work  together  for  the  pleasure, 
the  education  and  the  profit  of  their  respective  communities. 

In  the  kind  of  conflict  here  indicated,— brains  and  ideas 
against  the  inborn  tendency  of  good  citizens  to  prefer  the  old 
ways,— the  better  manner  of  conducting  the  campaign  is  plainly 
that  of  seeming  retreat,  accompanied  by  the  construction  of  new 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


11 


and  better  things  in  the  peace  and  quiet  of  the  rear.  That  is  to 
say,  the  advocates  of  the  type  of  museum  described  in  this  vol- 
ume must  work  for  the  most  part  in  the  obscurity  and  gloom  of 
the  old-fashioned  museum  temple ; and  there  must  awaken  the 
embalmed  bodies  of  the  sacred  "collections”  and  put  them  at 
useful  tasks.  Then,  when  the  cohorts  of  the  ancient,  honorable 
and  ignorant  finally  penetrate  the  lines  of  the  intelligent  and 
reach  the  rearguard,  they  will  find  there,  already  constructed 
and  in  use,  institutions  so  well  adapted  to  obvious  needs  that 
they  will  adopt  them  at  once,  and  call  them  their  own  creations 
and  the  very  realizations  of  the  ideals  for  which  they  so  long 
have  fought ! 

That  which  common-sense  dictates  as  the  proper  course  for 
propagandists  of  the  new  museum,  is  precisely  the  course  which 
they  are  following.  Here  and  there  are  men  and  women,  rela- 
tively few  but  in  the  total  a goodly  number,  who  are  construct- 
ing institutions  of  a usefulness  so  great  that  they  are  paying  in 
some  cases  fair  returns  on  their  cost,  even  though  burdened 
with  the  handicap  of  being  called  museums. 

Three  museum  studies  have  been  made  by  Paul  M.  Rea,  who 
is  the  Director  of  the  Museum  of  Charleston,  S.  C.,  and  Secre- 
tary of  the  Association  of  American  Museums,  and  appeared  in 
the  annual  reports  of  the  U.  S.  Commission  of  Education  for 
1913, 1914  and  1915.  These  very  valuable  studies  are  quite  dis- 
couraging if  one  looks  only  at  results  as  set  down  in  cold  figures. 
They  are  quite  cheering  if  one  reads  between  their  lines  and 
considers  them  with  an  eye  to  the  future. 

The  study  of  the  educational  work  of  museums  made  in  1914 
by  Miss  Louise  Connolly,  educational  expert  of  the  Newark,  N.  J., 
museums,  is  of  necessity  more  optimistic,  being  frankly  an  ef- 
fort at  construction  rather  than  a description  of  conditions.  The 
recent  annual  reports  of  the  American  Association  of  Museums 


12 


PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


can  give  even  the  most  depressed  of  museum  revolutionists 
much  encouragement ; for  they  show  that  the  one  ever-present 
desire  of  many  museum  workers  is  to  discover  and  exploit  new 
avenues  of  definite  usefulness. 

I shall  try  to  suggest  this  rapid  increase  in  the  usefulness  of 
museums  by  drawing,  from  latter  day  writings,  reports  of  those 
forms  of  museum  activities  in  which  progressive  museum  work- 
ers take  the  most  pride,  making  the  museums  in  which  they  ap- 
pear more  widely  and  more  definitely  useful  to  their  respective 
communities.  These  varied  forms  of  activity  I shall  unite  in  one 
imaginary  museum,  which,  as  I shall  try  to  suggest,  has  for  its 
community  a certain  definite  and  clearly  understood  value.  In 
thus  depicting,  in  rough  and  incomplete  outline,  an  institution 
of  an  excellence  and  effectiveness  as  yet  unattained,  I add  to  it 
certain  features  and  put  upon  it  certain  peculiarities  born  of  my 
own  imagination.  Only  thus,  it  seems,  can  I give  the  vision  a 
certain  needed  fullness. 

Those  things  which  the  new  museum  will  not  do,  and  the 
kind  of  institution  which  it  will  distinctly  not  be,  must  be  indi- 
cated chiefly  by  exclusion.  It  is  not  needful  to  begin  by  saying 
that  the  ideal  institute  of  visual  instruction  will  not  be  thus  and 
so.  One  negation,  however,  seems  essential ; it  is  that  the  new 
museum  is  not  a museum  of  a certain  kind.  It  is  not  of  fine  art, 
or  applied  art ; or  of  all  sciences,  or  of  any  special  science ; or  of 
industry  or  commerce ; or  of  pedagogy  or  technology ; or  of  hy- 
giene or  religion.  Carefully  selected  and  laboriously  identified, 
completely  labeled,  fitly  installed  and  safely  housed  collections 
of  objects  in  each  of  the  fields  mentioned,  and  in  many  others,  are 
needed  now,  and  have  now  and  always  will  have  their  select, 
high  and  usually  narrow  range  of  usefulness.  But  basic  to  all  the 
project  I here  set  forth  is  the  statement  that  either  these  must 
no  longer  be  called  museums,  but  “collections ; ” or,  a new  name 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


13 


must  be  discovered, — such  a name  I suggest  in  institute  of 
visual  instruction’' — and  applied  to  those  creations  whose  use- 
fulness is  wide,  direct,  obvious  and  in  fair  degree  measurable. 
And  that  word  measurable  leads  to  one  more  remark  prefatory. 

All  public  institutions,  and  museums  are  not  exceptions  to  this 
rule,  should  give  returns  for  their  cost ; and  those  returns  should 
be  in  good  degree  positive,  definite,  visible,  measurable.  The 
goodness  of  a museum  is  not  in  direct  ratio  to  the  cost  of  its 
building  and  the  upkeep  thereof,  or  to  the  rarity,  auction-value 
or  money  cost  of  its  collections.  A museum  is  good  only  in  so 
far  as  it  is  of  use. 

It  is  easy  to  evade  the  importance  of  this  obvious  fact  by  airy 
talk  of  the  uplift  value  of  architectural  facades  in  the  classic 
manner,  of  priceless  antiquities,  of  paintings  by  masters  and  of 
ancient  porcelains,  jades  and  lacquers,  to  say  nothing  of  replicas 
and  habitats  of  whales,  Indians  and  mastodons.  But  the  evasion 
does  not  serve.  Common  sense  demands  that  a publicly  support- 
ed institution  do  something  for  its  supporters,  and  that  some 
part  at  least  of  what  it  does  be  capable  of  clear  description  and 
downright  valuation. 

The  museum  project  I present  is  assumed  to  be  part  of  and  to 
be  supported  by  one  of  our  large,  ugly,  industrious  and  rich  Amer- 
ican cities  of  mixed  population.  I select  this  special  environment 
for  many  quite  obvious  reasons ; but  chiefiy  because  a museum 
of  the  type  I shall  describe  can  in  the  environment  suggested 
find  a maximum  of  usefulness. 

The  main  building  is  near  the  center  of  the  daily  movement 
of  the  citizens.  It  ought  not  to  be  necessary  to  say  that  an  insti- 
tution which  is  supported  partly  or  wholly  by  taxation,  and  is 
thus  supported  that  it  may  give,  and  because  it  is  supported  does 
in  fact  give,  pleasure  and  profit  to  all  citizens,  should  stand 
where  all  citizens  can  most  easily  reach  it.  But  again  and  again 


14 


A PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


the  plea  is  made  for  the  choice  of  a certain  museum  site  that  it 
is,  or  in  time  will  be,  near  the  ‘'center  of  population/’  It  is  diffi- 
cult, apparently,  for  the  old-fashioned  museum  mind  to  grasp 
the  fact  that  “center  of  population”  and  “center  of  daily  move- 
ment of  population”  are  not  one  and  the  same. 

The  reasons  usually  given  for  placing  a museum  in  an  isolated 
building,  preferably  in  a park,  and  for  causing  it  to  be  designed 
in  the  classic  manner,  all  with  the  general  spiritual  uplift  of  the 
passing  citizen  in  view,  have  heretofore  quite  universally  won 
over  our  museum  trustees.  That  the  usefulness  of  an  institution 
which  is  primarily  intended  to  be  visited  is  directly  proportion- 
ed to  the  number  of  its  visitors,  and  that  this  number  is  directly 
proportioned  to  its  accessibility  — these  are  facts  that  have 
found  a very  difficult  entrance  to  the  museum  mind. 

The  building’s  narrow  and  modestly  decorated  entrance  fronts 
on  a side  street,  just  off  a main  artery  of  travel. 

It  is  sixteen  stories  high,  with  an  area  of  about  10,000  square 
feet  on  each  floor,  giving  a total  of  160,000  above  the  basement. 
It  is  constructed  in  the  ordinary  modern,  fireproof,  brick-steel- 
and-concrete  manner. 

The  general  floor  plan  need  not  be  described  as  it  must  in 
good  measure  conform  to  the  land  purchased  for  it.  The  light- 
ing problem  is  solved  largely  by  electricity ; though  windows  are 
abundant,  especially  in  work  rooms. 

The  entrance  hall,  a stairway  of  moderate  grandeur,  cloak 
rooms,  toilets,  shipping  rooms,  and  several  small  halls  of  won- 
ders and  several  lecture  rooms  occupy  most  of  the  first  floor. 
The  halls  of  wonders  contain  a few  oil  paintings,  sculptures  and 
curios  such  as  every  museum  of  art  is  supposed  to  possess ; and 
a few  of  the  habitat  groups,  large  skeletons,  and  curiosities  of 
nature  which  convention  bids  us  look  for  in  a museum  of  sci- 
ence. If  these  were  not  on  view  in  a convenient  place  and  near 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


15 


the  entrance,  they  would  be  earnestly  and  persistently  sought 
for  by  visitors  until  they  were  found.  By  putting  them  near  the 
entrance,  and  by  giving  the  entrance  just  a touch  of  grandeur,  all 
visitors  who  have  the  conventional  museum  expectancy  enjoy  at 
once  the  agreeable  reactions  they  look  for,  and  are  fit  to  proceed 
further  in  a quiet  and  receptive  mind, — or  to  withdraw  from  the 
building!  Many  of  these  objects,  or  others  akin  to  them,  are 
found  again  where  needed  to  teach  this,  that  and  the  other  les- 
son, according  to  the  museum's  general  scheme  of  instruction. 

Always  among  the  objects  shown  in  these  halls  of  wonders 
are  some  which  are  recent  acquisitions,  some  which  cost  a great 
deal  of  money,  some  which  enjoy  provenances  of  astonishing 
lengths  and  of  aristocratic  flavor,  and  several  which  are  the  only 
ones  in  the  world,  or  at  least  in  this  country. 

The  modesty  of  the  entrance  hall  is  compensated  for  in  part 
by  the  presence  in  it  of  a panel  of  glass  mosaic,  very  unusual, 
very  expensive,  very  elaborately  made,  very  old,  very  historical 
and  distinctly  a museum  piece. 

The  suggestions  in  the  last  paragraphs  are  not  intended  to  be 
satirical  or  merely  humorous.  The  traditional  conception  of  a 
museum  is  very  deeply  set  in  the  minds  of  our  people,  rich  and 
poor,  ignorant  and  cultivated.  A museum  which  did  not  conform 
in  some  degree  to  this  traditional  conception  would  hardly  win 
the  approval  of  the  voters  as  something  worth  adding  to  the 
city's  equipment;  and,  when  in  operation,  would  not  for  years  win 
the  approval  of  the  common  people  who  must  vote  for  its  income 
or  its  treasures.  Nor  are  the  suggestions  in  this  paragraph  mere- 
ly supported  by  an  appeal  to  popular  though  mistaken  conven- 
tions. There  is  a certain  value  to  a community  in  the  knowledge 
that  it  is  living  up  to  the  traditions  of  its  kind.  Indeed,  if  money 
were  abundant,  either  from  gifts  or  from  appropriations  of  un- 
expected size,  some  of  it  could  quite  properly  be  spent  in  giving 


16 


A PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


a museum  building  more  room,  and  in  making  it  more  ornate 
than  I have  suggested.  The  chief  points  in  the  museum  concep- 
tion I am  here  setting  forth  are  that  it  must  be  central  and  use- 
ful. It  quite  clearly  follows  then  that  it  must,  unless  its  income 
is  very  large,  be  simple,  and  tall  and  not  greatly  supplied  with 
objects  of  high  cost. 

The  floors  on  which  are  found  the  other  things  to  be  mention- 
tioned  need  not  be  specified.  For  all  objects  and  activities  there 
is  abundant  space.  Many  are  moved  from  time  to  time,  as  the  de- 
velopment of  the  museum's  activities  and  as  changes  in  museum 
method  dictate. 

I do  not  attempt  to  say  with  any  degree  of  definiteness  what 
kind  of  a structure  and  what  arrangement  of  rooms  an  active, 
growing  institute  of  visual  instruction  needs.  No  one  knows.  We 
have  not,  as  I have  said,  even  demonstrated  that  the  best  of  mu- 
seums is  worth  the  money  it  costs.  We  can,  on  the  contrary,  al- 
most prove  that  the  conventional,  “gazing”,  “art-gallery”  type  of 
museum  does  not  give  such  returns  in  pleasure  or  betterment  of 
any  kind  as  justify  its  existence ; even  though  it  gives  good  oc- 
ular evidence  of  its  city’s  power  of  indulgence  in  conspicuous 
waste.  We  are  trying  to  find  a type  of  museum  which  demon- 
strably pays  its  community  fair  interest  on  its  investment.  As  to 
its  housing,  we  can  only  be  sure  as  yet  of  two  things ; first,  that 
like  any  institution  dependent  on  public  use  for  adequate  returns 
for  founding  and  upkeep,  it  must  be  where  its  supporting  pub- 
lic can  most  easily  and  most  cheaply  reach  it ; that  is,  it  must  be 
near  the  center  of  daily  movement  of  population ; and,  second, 
that  it  must  have  all  the  floor  space  the  money  to  be  put  into  it 
will  give.  This  floor  space  can  be  gained  to-day,  under  modern 
city  conditions,  near  a city’s  center  only  by  making  the  building 
tall.  Following  on  these  two  self-evident  propositions  come  the 
facts,  based  on  our  ignorance  of  the  future  of  museums,  that  this 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


17 


floor  space  must  not  be  deflnitely  assigned  to  definite  purposes ; 
but  must  be  capable,  having  the  fewest  possible  permanent  parti- 
tions, of  rearrangement  almost  to  the  last  degree. 

What  the  building  may  contain  and  what  are  the  activities 
which  may  center  in  it  must  be  told  in  outline  only.  To  those  fa- 
miliar with  modern  museum  work  the  items  which  follow  will 
almost  automatically  expand  themselves. 

The  staff,  which  is  adequate  for  the  work  the  objects  named 
and  the  activities  suggested  may  require,  is  larger,  relatively  to 
size  of  building  and  cost  of  collections,  and  more  highly  paid, 
than  it  is  in  any  existing  museum  of  equal  floor-space.  The  large 
salary  roll  is  compensated  for  in  part  by  a very  moderate  expen- 
diture for  objects,  by  dues  paid  by  certain  classes  of  students, 
by  payments  for  certain  definite  commercial  and  industrial  ser- 
vices rendered,  and,  if  admission  is  charged  on  special  days  or  to 
special  exhibits,  by  entrance  fees.  Moreover,  the  obvious  and 
the  definitely -proven  usefulness  of  the  museum  does,  in  due 
course,  reconcile  its  supporters  to  its  cost. 

The  quality  of  the  staff  and  the  special  talents  and  the  experi- 
ence and  skill  of  its  members  are  indicated  by  the  statements 
which  follow  of  the  things  they  are  expected  to  do.  For  much 
of  the  more  important  work  of  the  institute  most  museum  work- 
ers of  conventional  experience  and  training  will  not  be  fitted. 
For  this  work  it  will  be  necessary  to  engage  persons  whose  opin- 
ions of  what  a museum  should  be  are  quite  loosely  held,  and 
whose  susceptibility  to  new  ideas  and  powers  of  initiation  are 
quite  marked.  More  is  said  on  this  subject  later. 

Of  paintings  there  are  many,  chiefly  recent  American,  but  with 
an  abundance  of  copies  of  old  masterpieces.  A few  are  shown  in 
the  building ; some  are  lent  to  schools ; some  are  placed  in  win- 
dows of  stores ; some  are  in  libraries  and  branch  libraries  and 
some  are  in  museum  branches.  Most  are  without  frames,  and 


18 


PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


for  storage  are  slipped  into  shallow  boxes  of  uniform  size  which 
stand  on  end  on  racks  like  books  on  a shelf.  For  showing  these 
there  is  a collection  of  extremely  simple  frames  of  many  sizes. 
The  museum  acquires  a minimum  number  of  those  products  of 
aesthetic  aberration,  elaborate  gold  frames. 

As  already  stated,  a few  examples  from  the  collection  of  paint- 
ings are  on  view  in  one  or  more  galleries,  except  when  the  galler- 
ies are  needed  for  other  purposes. 

One  painting  at  least  is  almost  always  in  view  in  a small 
special  room.  Visitors  to  this  room  are  expected  to  be  seated  in 
chairs  provided  for  the  purpose  and  to  study  the  painting  for 
some  time.  As  an  aid  to  such  study  a leaflet  descriptive  of  the 
painting  and  explanatory  of  its  assumed  excellences  is  given  to 
all  who  wish  it. 

A like  use  is  made  of  many  of  the  paintings  which  are  lent, 
they  being  suitably  placed,  lighted,  and  accompanied  by  seats. 
In  the  center  of  the  city  and  in  parts  of  the  city  where  the  poorer 
citizens  have  their  homes,  advantage  is  taken  of  opportunities 
to  engage  vacant  stores,  small  halls  and  even  rooms  in  private 
houses.  In  each  of  these  a good  painting  is  set  up  for  a week  or 
a month,  and  the  place  is  opened,  with  an  intelligent  person  in 
charge,  for  an  hour  or  two  each  day  and  evening. 

This  plan  of  showing  single  paintings  is  followed,  not  because 
paintings  have  a very  high  value  as  promoters  of  happiness,  as 
teachers  of  facts,  as  aids  to  forming  good  habits  or  as  founts  of 
inspiration ; but  because  this  is  the  period  of  the  oil  painting, 
because  some  knowledge  of  the  history  of  its  development  and 
some  acquaintance  with  the  most  prized  examples  is  good  men- 
tal baggage,  and,  particularly,  because  by  this  plan  the  average 
lover  of  painted  pictures  gets  more  out  of  them  than  he  does  in 
any  other  way. 

The  "Stories  of  Paintings”  that  are  printed  for  distribution 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


19 


at  these  “one  painting”  exhibits  are  usually  illustrated  with  a 
picture  of  the  painting,  sometimes  in  color.  Some  of  these  leaflets, 
written  with  special  reference  to  the  purpose,  are  used  as  read- 
ing texts  in  schools,  and,  when  possible,  the  painting  which  the 
leaflet  thus  used  describes  is  placed  for  a time  where  the  class 
which  is  reading  the  leaflet  can  see  and  study  it. 

A plan  almost  identical  with  this  is  followed  in  the  use  of 
bronzes,  large  and  small,  copies  and  originals ; of  plaster  casts ; 
of  prints,  including  especially  those  in  color ; of  reproductions  of 
paintings  in  color,  both  the  expensive  and  the  cheap ; of  wood 
carving ; of  brocades,  and  of  many  other  kinds  of  museum  ob- 
jects. In  the  case  of  the  smaller  and  less  story-full  objects,  more 
than  one  article  is  sometimes  shown  at  a time ; though  the  very 
special  value  of  a careful  and  undistracted  study  of  one  thing  is 
never  forgotten. 

The  sculptures  include  many  American  bronzes,  with  others  of 
all  countries  and  all  times,  the  latter  being  in  most  cases  inex- 
pensive copies.  Most  of  these  are  usually  stored,  or  lent,  or  are 
on  exhibition  in  other  places.  There  is  no  grand  sculpture  hall 
of  plaster  casts ; though  there  is  at  least  one  room  in  which  may 
be  aroused  the  peculiar  aesthetic  emotion  to  be  experienced  in 
the  presence  of  a congruous  group  of  marble  sculpture.  Some 
casts  are  colored  in  the  ancient  manner.  Some  of  the  larger 
pieces  are  set  up,  for  a few  months,  in  schools,  and  in  other 
places  as  noted  in  detail  under  paintings.  Small  casts  for  the  use 
of  students  are  many  in  number  and  lent  freely.  Large  use  is 
made  of  plaster  copies  in  small  size  of  important  sculptures. 
Groups  of  these,  skilfully  arranged  and  properly  lighted,  are 
found  particularly  useful  for  work  outside  the  building. 

Such  of  the  objects  of  applied  or  decorative  art  as  are  purchas- 
ed are  largely  copies.  The  acquisition  in  this  field,  even  by  gift, 
of  ancient,  rare  and  costly  originals  which  have  a very  high 


20 


PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


market  value  and  involve  great  labor  in  handling  and  great  care 
for  preservation,  is  not  encouraged,  especially  if  with  them  goes 
the  condition  that  they  be  constantly  shown.  Even  if  they  are  al- 
ways on  view,  such  things  take  up  much  valuable  space ; while 
the  labor  of  handling  and  storing  them  and  showing  them  occa- 
sionally is,  in  view  of  their  value  and  fragility,  very  great.  As  is 
indicated  under  other  items,  the  products  of  American  workers 
are  especially  sought  in  this  field ; the  products  of  individual  ar- 
tisans with  private  shops  and  of  employes  in  large  establish- 
ments being  both  regarded  as  quite  honorable. 

The  collection  of  prints  is  large  but  not  very  expensive.  Valu- 
able prints  are  accepted  as  gifts,  but  few  are  purchased.  No 
large  permanent  collection  is  always  in  view. 

A constant  effort  is  made  to  humanize  the  print.  As  a mere 
story-picture  the  print,  in  the  form  of  a reproduction  of  a pencil, 
pen  or  wash  drawing,  is  everywhere  present  and  has  a univers- 
al appeal.  It  is  difficult  to  discover  the  reason  why  the  print 
proper,  the  first-hand  product  of  a man  of  genius  and  of  exquis- 
ite skill,  is  entirely  without  interest  to  all  save  a very  small  part 
of  even  the  more  educated  and  experienced.  Our  museum  tries 
to  change  this  state  of  things.  Good  prints  are  lent,  accompanied 
by  notes  descriptive  of  origin,  character  and  points  of  special  in- 
terest. As  in  the  descriptive  leaflets  on  single  paintings  or  pieces 
of  sculpture,  these  print-leaflets  often  dwell  much  on  the  print's 
content,  its  mere  story,  and  pass  from  that  to  the  reasons  for  its 
special  appeal  to  students.  And  all  this  is  frequently  accompan- 
ied by  illustrations  and  by  objects  which  help  to  make  clear  the 
methods  by  which  any  given  print  was  produced. 

In  connection  with  the  remarks  on  paintings  and  prints  and  in- 
expensive copies  thereof,  it  is  proper  to  consider  that  fashion  of 
the  time  which  gives  a very  high  value  to  originals  in  every  field 
of  art,  handicraft  and  design.  A copy  of  a great  painting,  for 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


21 


example,  even  though  it  be  so  perfect  that  at  a distance  of  a few 
feet  not  one  person  in  ten  thousand  can  tell  that  it  is  a copy,  is 
looked  upon  as  a dangerous  foe  of  art  and  as  an  almost  blasphem- 
ous tour-de-force.  Still  lower  in  the  scale  of  being  are  photo-me- 
chanical reproductions  of  paintings  and  prints,  and  pictures  in 
color  and  black  and  white  of  textiles,  laces,  wood  carvings  and 
other  objects,  even  though  these  convey  to  the  intelligent  ob- 
server a very  correct  impression  of  the  design,  color  and  tech- 
nique of  the  originals. 

The  fashion  is  very  injurious;  for,  being  set  and  followed  by 
the  elect  in  the  art  world, — wealthy  collectors,  dealers,  museum 
experts  and  critics  — it  is  naturally  followed  by  the  commonalty, 
inhibits  their  powers  of  observation  and  comparison  and  leads 
them  to  feel  that  if  they  do  not  look  upon  “originals”  they  can 
make  little  or  no  progress  in  their  education  in  art.  It  does  more 
than  this : — it  tends  to  prevent  the  would-be  designer  from  mak- 
ing full  use  of  the  countless  admirable  pictures  of  art  works  of 
every  period  and  country  which  lie  open  to  his  hands.  In  Paris 
is  an  art  museum  containing  no  objects  of  art  whatsoever.  It  is 
merely  a collection  of  pictures,  wide  in  its  range,  and  classed  by 
objects  depicted  and  by  the  period  and  country  from  which  the 
originals  come.  Our  museums  would  do  well  to  copy  this  artless 
plan.  Whether  they  do  or  not,  the  plan  is  being  in  a measure 
forced  upon  us  by  the  printing  press,  as  is  noted  later. 

Of  paintings,  sculptures  and  other  objects  in  the  field  of  the 
fine  arts,  so  called,  the  museum  finds  it  wise,  as  already  noted,  to 
secure,  but  chiefiy  by  gift,  a few  honorific  originals ; originals, 
that  is,  of  high  market  value,  greatly  esteemed  by  collectors  and 
connoisseurs,  and  giving  to  the  institution  a certain  distinction. 
In  the  present  state  of  art  appreciation  these  objects  gain  news- 
paper notice,  attract  an  occasional  student  and  stimulate  an  oc- 
casional donor  to  add  other  like  objects  to  them. 


A PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


22 


A like  policy  is  pursued  as  to  objects  in  the  applied  art  field. 

But  it  is  not  forgotten  that  the  chief  reason  why  the  authorities 
of  our  projected  museum  secure  and  label  and  set  into  view  any 
given  object  is  not  to  evoke  wonder  in  the  casual  observer,  or  to 
arouse  the  admiration  and  pride  of  fellow  citizens  or  the  aston- 
ishment and  envy  of  citizens  of  other  cities. 

In  the  field  of  art,  where  the  discussion  for  the  moment  finds 
us,  our  institute  secures  and  displays  and  describes  and  lends  ob- 
jects, in  the  hope  that  they  may  produce  certain  rather  definite 
effects  on  those  who  see  them,  handle  them,  study  them  and  in 
any  manner  make  use  of  them.  It  hopes  that  these  objects  will 
increase  the  local  interest  in  the  art  of  adapting  objects  to  their 
specific  useful  purposes,  in  the  ornamentation  of  useful  objects, 
in  the  history  of  developments  and  changes  in  that  ornamenta- 
tion, in  current  methods  of  ornamentation,  in  the  transfer  with 
agreeable  modifications  of  old  schemes  of  ornament  to  useful  ob- 
jects made  to-day,  especially  of  course  to  machine-made  objects, 
and,  in  general,  in  plans  to  increase  the  efforts  of  designers  and 
decorators  of  to-day  to  give  to  the  useful  objects  of  the  life  of  to- 
day an  interest  and  charm  peculiarly  their  own. 

The  remarks  made  on  the  museum’s  collection  of  pictures  are, 
in  large  part,  particularly  pertinent  to  the  objects  in  the  applied 
art  group.  It  is,  of  course,  very  true  that  to  look  upon  an  an- 
cient chest  of  wood,  with  elaborate  carvings  and  with  hinges, 
handles  and  locking  devices  cunningly  wrought  in  iron,  arouses 
a keen  interest  in  the  observer  who  is  informed  as  to  its  age,  its 
origin  and  history,  its  present  great  market  value  and  the  high 
esteem  in  which  it  is  held  by  those  who  are  careful  students  of 
such  things.  This  emotion  is  accentuated  if  the  observer  learns 
that  the  chest  is  unique  and  that  it  has  been  acquired  through 
the  generosity  of  a wealthy  collector  of  things  akin  to  it. 

It  is  clear  that  such  of  the  emotions  aroused  by  the  sight  of  the 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


23 


ancient  chest  as  may  lead  to  the  use  of  it  as  the  basis  of  construc- 
tion or  decoration  in  any  field  of  production,  are  emotions  which 
will  be  almost,  if  not  quite,  as  fully  aroused  by  a careful  copy  of  it 
or  a measured  drawing  of  it,  or  a photograph  of  it,  or  of  all  of 
these  presentments  combined,  as  by  the  original  itself.  It  is  not 
the  wonder,  astonishment,  pride  of  quasi  possession  or  authorized 
admiration  of  the  chest  that  will  make  it  useful  to  the  observer 
or  to  his  fellows  through  the  activities  it  will  induce  in  him.  The 
thing  that  makes  the  chest  worth  while  is  the  use  of  it ; and  near- 
ly all  of  this  use  can  come  as  well  from  good  pictorial  present- 
ments of  the  chest  as  from  the  chest  itself. 

Before  leaving  the  chest  and  its  decoration,  it  is  proper  to  call 
attention  to  the  fact  that  chest  rarities  in  our  museums,  and  kin- 
dred originals  of  old-time  decorative  effects  in  wood,  metal  and 
leather,  have  not  as  yet  affected  that  modern  descendant  of  the 
chest,  the  traveling  trunk.  If  museums  were  the  active  agents 
in  elevating  the  taste  and  the  productive  skill  of  their  respective 
communities  which  they  bravely  try  to  think  they  are,  they  would 
have  long  since  attempted,  and  attempted  with  no  small  success, 
to  arouse  such  an  interest  in  the  skilful  adornment  of  the  com- 
mon trunk  as  would  have  led  to  efforts  to  give  it  charm  as  well 
as  strength  and  endurance.  But,  alas!  under  present  museum 
conventions,  trustees  and  directors  and  curators  are  amply  con- 
tent if  they  secure  and  expensively  install  an  old,  rare  and  cost- 
ly chest,  which  attracts  the  gaze  and  evokes  the  wonder  of  the 
casual  visitor  and  the  envy  of  the  occasional  exper^ 

The  collection  of  things  made  in  the  city  which  supports  the 
museum  consists  of  a selection,  constantly  changing  through 
rejections  and  renewals.  Of  some  of  these  an  important  exhibit  is 
held  each  year.  These  annual  exhibits  of  local  products  are  not 
large,  but  are  carefully  selected  and  arranged  and  labeled  with 
special  reference  to  these  points:— 


24 


A PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


1.  Making  the  city  known  to  itself,  and  especially  to  its  young 
people. 

2.  Presenting  one  of  the  city’s  activities  in  an  attractive,  interest- 
ing and  advertising  manner  to  non-residents. 

3.  Encouraging  improvements  in  manufacturing  methods. 

4.  Presenting  a modern  industry  in  a comprehensive  and  enlight- 
ening manner  to  pupils  in  the  schools. 

The  exhibit  of  New  Jersey  textiles  made  recently  by  the  New- 
ark museums,  cost,  including  materials,  labels,  arrangement  and 
work,  less  than  $800 ; it  brought  to  the  museum  many  gifts,  and 
received  50,000  visits. 

These  local  industries  displays  are  quite  frankly  commercial. 
They  illustrate  each  year  the  best  the  city  can  produce  in  the  line 
selected.  They  are  accompanied  by  or  preceded  by  or  followed 
by  exhibits  of  goods  in  the  same  line  from  other  countries  and 
from  other  periods.  The  objects  shown  are  selected,  not  with  ref- 
ence to  their  money  value,  but  almost  solely  with  reference  to 
their  suggestive  value  to  local  manufacturers,  and  their  teaching 
value  to  old  and  young. 

It  is  difficult  to  attach  too  much  importance  to  the  exploitation 
by  a museum  of  the  products  of  its  own  community.  On  the  art 
side  of  its  work  a museum  is  supposed  to  be  of  help  in  improving 
the  taste  of  its  constituents,  and  in  increasing  their  interest  in, 
and  their  powers  of  discrimination  concerning,  the  objects  they 
daily  see  and  use.  Now,  good  taste  and  keen  interest  in  the  pots 
and  pans  of  daily  life  do  not  emerge  from  the  awed  contempla- 
tion of  unfamiliar  objects  enshrined  in  the  cases  of  a public  insti- 
tution, as  has  just  been  illustrated  in  the  case  of  the  ancient  chest 
and  the  great  American  trunk. 

But,  leaving  aside  for  the  present  the  subject  of  improvement 
in  adaptation  to  purpose  and  of  technical  skill  in  production,  it  is 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


25 


obvious  that  in  almost  every  industry,  from  farming  to  the  mak- 
ing of  shoes  and  through  the  whole  gamut  of  manufacturing, 
there  are  to  be  found  a few  workers  who  delight  to  add,  to  what 
they  make  or  help  to  make,  a very  definite  bit  of  what  to  them 
is  beautification,  adornment  or  art.  It  is  this  delight  in  a surplus 
of  finish,  a vague  something  beyond  the  needful,  that  is  the  very 
foundation  and  origin  of  all  the  arts  of  decoration  in  every  field. 
This  desire  to  add  this  surplus  has  been  found  in  every  country 
and  in  all  times,  from  the  savage  and  his  paddle  to  the  costumes 
on  the  avenues  of  our  modern  cities ; and  this  desire  has  moved 
those  possessed  by  it  to  definite  and  widely  approved  decorative 
accomplishment  wherever  and  whenever  their  fellow-citizens 
have  been  interested  in  that  decorative  accomplishment  and  have 
been  willing  to  pay  reasonable  sums  to  secure  it. 

The  conclusion  is  that  a museum  of  art,  supported  by  a com- 
munity, should  encourage  the  movements  toward  the  beautifica- 
tion of  its  products  which  that  community  discloses.  A gener- 
ous encouragement,  one  commensurate  with  the  tremendous  im- 
portance of  the  development  of  decorative  power,  would  include 
far  more  than  the  exhibits  of  local  industries  already  alluded  to. 

One  form  of  such  encouragement  could  be,  for  example,  the 
careful  selection  and  purchase,  by  a museum,  of  examples  of 
what  experts  call  the  best  and  also  of  what  experience  has  shown 
to  be  the  most  popular,  of  decorated  objects  of  utility,  made  by 
manufacturers  in  the  city  which  supports  the  museum.  The  pur- 
chases should  include,  in  some  cases,  objects  from  producers  in 
all  parts  of  the  country  and  if  possible  from  foreign  makers  as 
well.  These  should  be  displayed  with  ancient  originals  or  copies 
or  pictures  of  originals  of  kindred  objects,  or  objects  bearing 
kindred  decorations,  and  they  should  be  accompanied  by  labels 
and  leafiets  suggesting  how  certain  types  of  decoration  have  de- 
veloped, and  where  and  when;  and  why  certain  of  those  shown 


26 


A PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


in  the  work  of  to-day  are  likely  to  meet  with  popular  approval 
for  a long  time ; and  why  others  promise  to  be  only  ephemeral 
fashions.  More  than  this  as  to  the  “art”  value  of  specific  types 
of  decoration  it  would  be  dangerous  to  say ; but  much  could  be 
said  on  other  aspects  of  the  subject  that  would  be  of  interest  to 
manufacturer,  artisan,  mechanic,  salesman,  advertiser  and  the 
buying  public ; would  help  them  to  a clearer  conception  of  what 
makes  decoration  more  or  less  enduring,  and  would  lead  them 
to  see  that  the  decoration  made  by  their  fellows,  to-day,  is  the 
decoration  that  chiefly  concerns  them,  and  is  the  decoration 
which  they  can,  by  agreeable  conscious  effort,  help  to  improve. 

If  it  be  said  that  such  forms  of  museum  activity  as  are  here 
suggested  would  be  very  expensive,  the  reply  can  be  made  that 
the  price  paid  for  one  rare  painting,  or  one  rare  old  bronze,  or 
one  year’s  excavations  in  Northern  China  would  flnance  much 
of  the  work  of  encouraging  and  developing  native  decorations 
for  several  years.  And  to  say  this  is  not  equivalent  to  saying 
that  the  painting,  the  sculpture  and  the  excavations  alluded  to 
should  be  neglected.  The  zeal  of  the  rich  for  the  acquisition  of 
the  honorific  in  art  will  assure  us  that  ample  care  and  thought 
and  money  will  be  given  to  these  things.  But,  the  same  prevail- 
ing fashion  in  the  display  of  art  zeal  which  condemns  the  rich  to 
the  acquisition  of  the  old  and  rare  and  costly,  almost  complete- 
ly inhibits  their  taking  an  interest  in  and  contributing  to  the 
patronage  of  the  designs  and  decorations  of  their  own  country 
and  their  own  time.  One  of  the  newest  museums  of  art  has  aptly 
illustrated  the  remarks  just  made.  Its  opening  was  celebrated  by 
the  display  of  a large  collection  of  rare  and  costly  objects,  and 
of  these  objects  was  published  a very  beautiful  illustrated  cata- 
logue. The  articles  and  pictures  this  catalogue  described  were 
not,  with  perhaps  a very  few  exceptions,  made  in  the  city  of 
which  the  museum  is  a part,  or  in  this  country,  and  they  did 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


27 


not  bear  any  direct  relation  to  the  daily  life  or  the  daily  activ- 
ities of  any  one  in  the  museum’s  city,  which  is  one  of  the  most 
progressive,  prosperous  and  intensely  industrial  in  America. 

This  is  typical.  A museum  of  art  is  not  thought  of  as  the  chief 
patron  and  encourager  of  the  arts  of  its  community:  but  as 
primarily  a store-house  of  expensive  curios.  Of  course  the  ad- 
ministrators of  the  typical  art  museum  of  to-day  hope  and  be- 
lieve that  its  rarities  and  curios,  all  genuine  and  therefore  eleva- 
ting to  the  community,  can  be  used  to  stimulate  an  interest  in 
great  and  good  art.  But  building  and  contents  are  alike  remote 
from  the  community’s  pots  and  pans  and  can  affect  the  latter’s 
advancement  very  slowly  and  very  slightly.  ' 

In  support  of  these  statements  I would  call  attention  to  the 
Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Arts  in  London,  October 
28, 1918.  The  meeting  of  that  date  was  given  up  to  a discus- 
sion of  "'The  Promotion  of  Industrial  Art  ”.  Two  schemes  were 
submitted ; one  formulated  by  the  Royal  Society,  the  other  by 
the  Board  of  Trade.  The  two  originated  independently,  but 
proved  to  be  complementary  and  were  expected  to  work  in  close 
cooperation.  Hon.  W.  A.  L.  Fisher,  President  of  the  (National) 
Board  of  Education,  was  chairman.  In  opening  the  meeting  he 
said,  that  the  project  under  discussion  had  the  approval  of  the 
Board  of  Education  as  well  as  of  the  Royal  Society  and  the  Board 
of  Trade.  Its  purpose  is,  he  said,  ” To  lift  our  national  industries 
on  to  an  altogether  higher  line  of  esthetic  achievement,  by  af- 
fording encouragement  to  our  designers,  to  obtain  first-hand 
acquaintance  with  the  medium  in  which  they  work,  and,  by  the 
formation  of  a permanent  Exhibition  of  British  Industrial  Art, 
which  shall  not  only  offer  a stimulus  to  our  craftsmen  and  de- 
signers, but  also  enable  us  to  obtain  a conspectus  of  the  state  of 
contemporary  art  at  any  given  period  of  time.  One  of  the 
schemes  before  us  to-day  is  a scheme  for  the  establishment  of 


28 


A PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


a British  Institute  of  Industrial  Art.  The  Board  of  Trade,  in  con- 
junction with  the  Board  of  Education,  and  with  the  advice  of  rep- 
resentative members  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Arts,  the  Arts  and 
Crafts  Exhibition  Society,  the  Art  Workers'  Guild,  the  Design 
and  Industries  Association,  and  various  persons  and  organiza- 
tions connected  with  manufacture  and  commerce,  have  framed 
a scheme  for  a British  Institute  of  Industrial  Art,  and  it  is  pro- 
posed that  this  Institute  should  be  incorporated,  under  the  joint 
auspices  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  as  the  department  dealing  with 
industry,  and  of  the  Board  of  Education,  as  the  authority  con- 
trolling the  Victoria  and  Albert  Museum.  The  methods  by  which 
it  is  proposed  that  our  objects  should  be  achieved  are  first  of  all 
the  establishment  of  a permanent  Exhibition  in  London  of  mod- 
ern British  works  selected  as  reaching  a high  standard  of  artis- 
tic craftsmanship  and  manufacture." 

It  is  not  necessary  to  quote  further ; for  I wish  merely  to  show 
that  the  most  important  educational  bodies  in  England  are  to- 
day of  the  opinion  I am  trying  to  set  forth  in  this  volume : — that 
under  current  methods  musems  do  not  fulfill  one  of  their  prim- 
ary functions,  if  not  the  most  important  of  all  their  functions, 
that  of  teaching.  They  are  now,  for  the  most  part,  mere  collec- 
tions, mere  gazing  museums,  producing  only  slight  effect  on  the 
development  of  industrial  art,  that  is,  on  the  application  of  dec- 
oration to  useful  objects.  So  entirely  have  museums  of  the  old 
type  failed  to  be  of  definite  educational  value  that  when  it  is 
asked  in  London  how  the  " national  industries  can  be  lifted  to  a 
higher  level  of  artistic  achievement ",  the  answer  is  found,  not 
by  turning  to  existing  museums,  but  by  proceeding  to  the  erec- 
tion of  a new  museum  of  the  definitely  useful,  teaching  type 
which  I am  here  trying  to  describe. 


The  artisans  and  other  members  of  the  museum  staff,  who 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


29 


mount  birds,  animals,  insects,  and  other  objects  and  make 
habitats  and  other  groups,  are  in  many  cases  so  placed  that  visit- 
ors can  see  them  at  work.  Visiting  painters,  designers  and  crafts- 
men are  usually  compelled  to  work  in  the  exhibition  rooms  where 
they  can  be  seen  by  all  who  are  interested  in  their  procedures. 
General  museum  workers  are  also  presented  as  object  lessons. 
To  them  are  added  occasional  exhibits  of  bench  workers,  arti- 
sans and  craftsmen,  and  of  sculptors  and  modelers,  painters,  en- 
gravers, wood  carvers,  designers  and  artists  in  all  fields,  engag- 
ed for  the  specific  purpose  of  being  seen  in  the  practice  of  their 
several  callings.  I am  aware  that  our  institution  does  not  find  it 
easy  to  discover  persons  in  these  many  fields  who  are  ready  and 
willing  to  work  under  observation  of  a general  public.  But  they 
can  be  found. 

If  the  cost  of  doing  the  things  of  many  kinds  which  I have 
noted  is  offered  as  an  obstacle  thereto,  the  answer  is  ready.  Our 
new  museum  does  not  devote  large  sections  of  its  annual  in- 
come, sums  ranging  from  $10,000  to  $100,000,  to  the  purchase  of 
single  objects  like  rare  paintings.  Notorious  and  costly  rarities 
are  given  by  the  rich,  or  not  acquired  at  all.  The  institution  we 
are  considering  is  trying  to  arouse  an  interest  in  all  the  refine- 
ments of  life,  and  especially  in  the  refining  of  the  most  common 
objects  of  daily  use  — the  pots  and  pans  of  the  commonalty  al- 
ready alluded  to.  This  it  is  trying  to  do  on  what  we  call  the  art 
side  of  human  activities.  And  it  is  equally  interested  in  the  task 
of  arousing  interest  in  the  sciences,  in  the  material  history  of 
the  community  — in  the  modest  meaning  of  that  phrase  — and  in 
all  the  industries  by  which  we  live  and  thrive. 

Returning  for  a moment  to  the  special  displays  of  single  ob- 
jects or  small  groups  of  objects,  which  have  been  briefly  alluded 
to,  it  should  be  noted  that  activity  of  this  kind  is  all  quite  dis- 
tinctly educational.  It  is  not  found  difficult,  indeed,  to  connect 


30 


A PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


some  of  it  closely  with  the  work  of  the  schools  and  even  to  in- 
clude it  in  the  definitely  required  work  of  the  curriculum,  and  to 
give  teachers  an  opportunity  to  acquire  merit  in  its  supervision. 
In  certain  high  school  courses,  in  history,  literature  and  art,  for 
example,  the  observation  and  study  of  paintings,  sculptures  and 
architectural  pictures,  with  the  aid  of  proper  leaflets,  guidance  by 
teachers  and  suggestions  from  museum  assistants,  can  be  made 
to  form  an  essential  part  of  the  work  of  a given  year  or  half  year. 

Add  to  the  objects  of  these  three  kinds  the  many  others  that 
a general  museum  of  the  type  I am  describing, — well  settled  as 
it  is  in  the  habit  of  sending  out  for  special  service  almost  any- 
thing it  possesses, — has  gathered  into  its  halls  and  store-rooms, 
and  it  is  easy  to  see  how  our  institute  becomes  an  active  ally  of 
all  the  city’s  educational  institutions. 

It  displays,  for  example,  in  rented  rooms,  in  libraries,  in  wel- 
fare departments  of  great  industrial  establishments,  in  the 
rooms  provided  by  institutional  churches,  in  school  houses  and 
many  other  places,  a series  of  models  of  the  habitations  of  men; 
bird  and  animal  habitat  groups ; charts  and  maps  descriptive  of 
the  development  of  mankind ; and  like  documents  on  climate, 
products  and  geology ; and  it  adds  to  these  some  of  its  own  work- 
ers and  installers  of  museum  material,  and  workers  in  certain 
fundamental  crafts  like  pottery-making  and  weaving.  By  this 
last  it  is  obviously  suggested  that  our  new  institute  uses  not  only 
its  objects,— all  save  those  that  are  in  fact  both  rare  and  of  def- 
inite historical  value  — but  also  its  activities  in  extending  its 
teaching  power  through  branches  and  many  other  avenues  of 
distribution  to  every  part  of  the  city  and  to  all  its  citizens. 

If  it  be  said  that  a publicly  supported  art  museum  cannot 
commercialize  itself  by  the  acquisition  and  display  of  commod- 
ities currently  offered  for  sale,  I would  first  admit  that  the  mat- 
ter must  be  handled  with  common  sense.  Then  I would  reply 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


31 


that  all  museums  of  art  enter  the  field  of  commerce  when  they 
borrow  and  display,  as  all  do,  the  products  of  painters,  sculptors 
and  art-and-craft  workers.  A painter  works  and  wishes  to  sell 
his  products.  No  one  has  yet  shown  us  that  he  and  his  colleagues 
in  sculpture  and  hand  work  are  more  noble,  more  sincere,  more 
worthy  of  special  privileges  than  are  those  who  design  and  pro- 
duce the  output  of  our  factories ; or  that  they  are,  through  the 
peculiar  nature  or  quality  of  their  productions,  endued  with  any 
special  sanctity  which  makes  their  desire  to  sell  their  goods  ex- 
empt from  the  taint  of  commercialism.  It  is  well  to  patronize 
our  artists,  commonly  so  called,  to  examine  their  wares  and  to 
buy  them  if  they  are  good.  Indeed,  no  small  part  of  this  book  is 
devoted  to  an  argument  in  favor  of  this  very  thing.  But  the 
argument  also  goes  to  show,  and  I think  unanswerably,  that  a 
museum  of  art  is  under  the  same  obligation  to  patronize  the 
maker  of  pots  and  pans  that  it  is  to  patronize  the  painter. 

And  to  all  this  I would  add  the  statement  that  commerce  is 
not  sinful.  It  exudes  no  virulent  poison  which  is  harmful  to 
the  elevated  souls  of  art  museum  trustees,  administrators  and 
visitors. 

This  also  should  be  noted,  that  even  as  I write  these  lines  I 
receive  notice  of  the  second  exhibit  in  the  Metropolitan  Museum 
of  Art  in  New  York  of  ''Commercial”  products.  The  taint  of 
sordidness  is  not  removed  from  these  products  by  the  fact  that 
they  are  in  some  degree  based  on  objects, — rare,  old  and  costly 
objects  — which  the  museum  has  long  housed.  The  fact  is,  of 
course,  that  they  never  were  tainted  at  all,  and  that  if  their  pres- 
ence in  a museum  can  assist  that  museum  in  its  proper  task  of 
improving  our  commercial  products  and  of  refining  and  broad- 
ening the  taste  of  its  community,  then  they  are  quite  as  much 
at  home  in  the  museum  as  is  the  rarest,  oldest  and  costliest  ob- 
ject it  possesses. 


32 


A PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


As  I write  I receive  also  a notice  of  an  exhibit  of  ” Art  in 
Everyday  Life  ” to  be  held  in  the  Buffalo  Art  Gallery.  This  mu- 
seum has  long  been  a stronghold  of  Fine  Art ; and  it  is  significant 
of  the  changing  view  of  the  functions  that  museums  are  taking 
on,  that  here,  at  last,  applied  arts  of  many  kinds  are  to  be  shown, 
and  are  to  compete  for  prizes  and  are  to  be  offered  for  sale ! 
Perhaps  the  absence  of  the  machine  in  the  factors  that  produce 
the  objects  here  to  be  shown  is  held  to  sanctify  those  objects 
and  make  them  proper  associates  of  old  paintings  and  other  fine 
art  things.  Yet  surely  not ; for  a loom  is  a machine,  even  though 
moved  by  the  hand  and  so,  on  second  thoughts,  is  a hammer ! 
No,  the  useful  arts,  that  is,  useful  things  somewhat  adorned, 
have  come  to  the  Buffalo  gallery,  and  it  cannot  be  long  before 
there  will  come  to  the  same  place,  and  to  every  other  active, 
useful  museum,  these  same  useful  objects,  made,  and  adorned 
as  made,  by  mere  machines  for  mere  purposes  of  sale  to  persons 
who  will  merely  use  them,  and  enjoy  them,  and  thank  the  manu- 
facturers for  making  them. 

Our  museum  contains  many  objects  illustrating  such  funda- 
mental industries,  whether  followed^  in  the  city  or  not,  as  have 
greatly  influenced  the  development  of  civilization.  These  in- 
clude products  in  clay,  glass,  wood,  wool  and  other  fibers,  leath- 
er, metal  and  other  materials  and  also  foods  and  medicines. 
They  are  shown  to  illustrate  these  among  many  other  things: 

1.  The  historic  development  of  the  industries  which  produce 
them ; and  the  relations  of  those  industries  to  the  develop- 
ment of  social  conditions. 

2.  The  processes  by  which  such  objects  are  made  to-day,  with 
the  science  and  skill  involved. 

3.  The  art  qualities  found  in  such  objects,  in  both  past  and  pres- 
ent times. 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


33 


In  doing  this  last  the  collection  exalts  the  maker  of  picture 
above  the  maker  of  mugs,  only  when  the  former  shows  more 
genius  and  skill  than  the  latter.  One  of  the  wider  purposes  of 
our  museum  is  to  make  life  better  worth  living,  not  by  adding 
luster  to  riches  and  creating  pleasurable  reactions  in  the  avow- 
edly aesthetic ; but  by  encouraging  all  to  discover  possibilities 
of  agreeable  emotions  in  the  contemplation  of  common  things. 

The  objects  in  this  group  are  in  many  cases  the  same  as  those 
in  the  groups  described  in  discussing  applied  arts  and  things 
made  in  the  city ; and,  as  our  description  indicates,  many  of  the 
objects  found  in  all  these  groups  are  used  for  several  purposes. 

That  part  of  our  institute’s  work  now  under  consideration  has 
to  do  with  the  history  and  technique  of  industries.  No  museum 
can  hope  to  be,  by  assembling  machines  to  illustrate  every  step 
of  productive  processes,  a complete  object  lesson  in  these  topics. 
But  the  subject  can  be  illuminated  and  made  attractive  by  pic- 
tures of  machines  in  several  stages  of  development,  by  a few  of 
the  earliest  types  of  machines  used  in  fundamental  industries 
and  by  examples  of  products  of  hand  work,  and  of  machines 
from  those  of  the  earliest  to  those  of  the  latest  type. 

The  habitat  groups  are  usually  rather  small,  and  many  of 
them  are  in  miniature.  They  include  birds,  animals,  insects, 
plants  and  human  beings.  A few  selected  ones  are  always  on 
view  and  are  well  arranged  to  be  shown  to  groups  of  school 
children.  Many  of  the  less  important,  less  complicated  and  less 
expensive  groups,  small  and  easily  moved,  are  placed  in  museum 
branches,  in  windows  of  stores  and  in  branch  libraries  and 
houses  as  needed, — all  in  the  manner  described  in  the  discussion 
of  the  use  made  of  paintings  and  sculptures. 

In  a few  of  our  largest  and  richest  museums,  habitat  groups 
of  full  size  and  of  the  utmost  accuracy  will  continue  to  be  made 
and  will  furnish  endless  pleasure  and  much  visual  instruction  to 


34 


A PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


thousands.  But  the  more  modest  institutions,  like  the  one  we  are 
projecting,  will  find  amply  sufficient  for  its  purposes  groups  of 
modest  dimensions.  In  many  cases  they  may  be  very  small.  The 
majority  of  them  are  to  be  viewed  from  one  side  only,  being  in 
small  cases  with  the  background  carried  out  in  drawings  and 
paintings.  These  are  so  constructed  and  cased  that  they  can  be 
easily  transported. 

In  the  consideration  of  the  utility  of  all  this  work  in  the  habitat 
field  several  questions  arise,  some  of  which  it  will  be  part  of  our 
institute’s  activities  to  try  to  answer. 

For  example,  this  is  the  era  of  pictures.  The  quantity  of  pic- 
tures presented  every  day  to  the  eyes  of  the  average  person,  old 
or  young,  is  enormous,  and  increases  constantly.  Not  only  does 
the  quantity  increase,  the  quality  steadily  improves. 

What  are  the  effects  of  this  increasing  fiood  of  pictures  on  the 
individual  brain?  Does  it  hasten  brain  development?  Does  it 
make  easier  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  without  lessening 
those  powers  of  planning,  adjusting  and  generalizing  by  which 
acquired  knowledge  is  made  of  definite  value  to  life  ? Does  it 
tend  to  modify  those  habits  of  observation  and  analysis  which 
are  acquired  through  other  mental  activities  than  that  of  picture 
gazing  ? Does  it  make  it  necessary  for  us  to  change  our  current 
methods  of  education  ? 

These  and  many  other  questions  are  waiting  to  be  answered. 
If  our  institute  of  visual  instruction  can,  while  it  pursues  its  work 
along  the  lines  suggested  by  our  schools,  by  our  conventional 
museums  and  by  the  new  museum  methods  which  are  being 
widely  approved  and  are  here  and  there  put  in  practice ; — if  it 
can  carry  on  work  which  will  test  rather  definitely  some  of  the 
effects  of  picture-using  it  may  thereby  add  a little  to  our  much- 
needed  knowledge  on  this  subject. 

The  picture  assails  us  everywhere.  It  not  only  brings  to  us  a 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


35 


certain  kind  of  knowledge  of  every  aspect  of  nature  and  of  every 
form  of  human  life  and  activity,  it  is  also  producing  for  us  rep- 
resentations, those  of  each  day  more  nearly  accurate  than  those 
of  the  day  before,  of  products  of  human  hands  in  every  field,  in- 
cluding the  so-called  field  of  art.  Add  to  the  picture  the  moving 
picture,  and  we  have,  awaiting  our  eyes  and  the  visual  centers 
of  our  brains,  the  very  movements  of  nature  herself,  the  opera- 
tions set  on  foot  by  man,  and  man's  daily  activities.  And  again 
the  question  is,  what  are  all  these  worth  to  us?  Are  they  to 
prove  altogether  helpful  or  in  some  degree  harmful  ? And  again 
the  answer  is  that  no  one  knows.  Nor  does  anyone  know  the 
values  that  may  lie  behind  the  use  of  the  picture  in  museum 
work. 

I am  dwelling  long  on  this  subject  of  pictures  because  I wish 
to  present,  to  museum  workers,  not  only  the  unanswered  ques- 
tions already  presented,  but  also  certain  others  that  lie  in  this 
same  field  of  visual  instruction. 

Museums  have  thus  far  collected  and  displayed  chiefly  objects 
and  not  pictures  of  objects,  save  those  pictures,  and  photographs 
thereof,  which  are  possessed  each  of  certain  peculiar  qualities 
given  it  by  the  brain  and  hand  of  one  certain  person,  together 
with  photographs  of  art  objects  as  such.  These  objects,  includ- 
ing those  in  the  graphic  arts  field,  are  supposed  to  have  a special 
value  by  reason  of  their  power  to  arouse  in  the  observer  certain 
helpful  reactions.  These  reactions  are  not  easily  defined,  but  are 
assumed  to  exist  and  to  be  of  value.  It  is  commonly  supposed 
that  they  help  the  observer  to  understand  life,  to  be  more  inter- 
ested in  the  adornment  of  himself,  his  home  cmd  all  things  with 
which  he  comes  in  contact,  and,  especially,  to  be  more  suscepti- 
ble to  improvement  in  his  tastes,  to  take  a deeper  interest  in  life 
and  to  patronize  more  generously  those  who  give  themselves  to 
the  task  of  sweetening  human  society.  This  is,  I admit,  a very 


36 


A PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


vague  presentment  of  the  assumed  beneficial  effect  of  a sight  of 
an  Egyptian  tomb  or  of  a Greek  vase  of  approved  excellence  and 
unquestioned  authenticity ; yet  surely  it  is  less  vague  than  are 
most  statements  of  the  great  and  good  influences  of  a gazing 
museum. 

Let  me  make  it  clear  that  I do  not  deny  that  objects  which 
time  has  tried,  which  have  given  pleasure  to  many,  which  con- 
tinue to  give  pleasure  to  those  of  wide  experience  in  the  field  of 
art,  so  called,  and  are  by  those  same  persons  pronounced  good, 
— that  I do  not  deny  that  such  objects  are  worthy  of  safe  keep- 
ing, high  esteem,  and  even  of  a certain  veneration.  But  I do  hold 
concerning  them,  that  they  should  be  looked  upon,  first  of  all, 
as  marks  of  the  possession  of  high  skill,  refinement  of  perception 
and  of  keen  sensibility  by  those  who  made  them,  and  only  sec- 
ondarily as  aids  to  the  development  of  like  skill,  like  refinement 
of  perception  and  like  sensibility  in  those  who  gaze  upon  them 
In  a word,  they  are  stigmata  of  civility  and  not  the  causes  there- 
of. They  should  be  studied  and  not  worshipped.  They  should 
be  preserved  that  they  may  help  us,  not  that  they  may  amaze 
and  confound  us.  And,  above  all,  we  should  study  them  with 
the  purpose  of  learning  from  them,  and  in  the  hope  that  we  may 
learn  from  them,  not  the  secret  of  their  making  but  the  factors 
that  united  to  bring  them  forth.  Thus  studying  them,  in  relation 
to  their  time,  their  country,  their  purpose  and  the  position  which 
those  who  made  them  occupied  in  relation  to  the  society  in 
which  they  lived  and  of  which  they  were  an  essential  and  fore- 
ordained part,  we  shall  learn,  even  though  not  closely  and  com- 
pletely, how  we  may  so  adjust  our  own  social  mechanism  as  to 
cause  to  come  forth  from  among  us  also,  men  and  women  who 
can  produce  for  us  as  great  and  helpful  and  pleasure-giving 
stigmata  of  our  own  civility  as  are  the  greatest  art  works  the 
world  has  in  its  inheritance. 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


37 


If  these  conclusions  are  sound,  it  follows  that  the  thing  need- 
ed to-day  to  provoke  art  among  us  is  not  so  much  great  and 
richly-housed  collections  of  rare  and  costly  objects,  as  a wide- 
spread interest  in  the  products  of  the  men  and  women  of  our 
own  times.  It  is  to  the  products  of  living  men  and  women,  not 
to  those  of  men  and  women  long  since  dead,  that  we  must  look 
for  the  art  of  our  day.  And,  that  good  things  may  come  from 
these,  we  must  help  them,  sympathize  with  them,  understand 
the  influences  which  our  present  social,  economic  and  industrial 
order  brings  to  bear  upon  them ; and  place  their  products  frank- 
ly before  us  to  be  measured  as  things  born  of  these  days,  and 
not  of  other  times,  other  incentives,  other  conditions  and  other 
needs. 


As  to  science  collections  in  the  visual  instruction  institute 
which  I am  outlining,  many  of  these  are  made  with  special  ref- 
erence, first,  to  the  science  work  in  the  schools,  and  next,  to 
the  interests  of  local  groups  of  scientific  men, — collectors,  stu- 
dents and  industrial  experts.  They  are  quite  largely  arranged 
as  needed.  Those  which  serve  the  schools  are  in  large  part  col- 
lected and  set  up  by  young  people,  in  accordance  with  instruc- 
tions given  by  museum  workers,  skilled  in  such  matters ; and 
those  serving  groups  of  scientists  are  closely  correlated  with 
the  work  of  these  groups  and  are  in  many  cases  supplied  by 
them. 

Supplementing  the  collection  of  objects  is  a large  collection  of 
pictures  in  color,  forming  part  of  the  picture  collection  men- 
tioned later,  carefully  labeled  and  arranged,  and  including  dia- 
grams, charts  and  maps. 

The  general  science  collections  cover  in  outline  most  of  the 
subjects  that  are  fully  treated  in  large  museums  devoted  to  sci- 
ence only.  Long  series  of  rocks,  minerals,  insects,  fish,  birds  and 


38 


A PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


animals  are  chiefly  supplied,  as  already  noted,  by  local  scientiflc 
men.  These  are  arranged  and  stored  and  made  as  easily  acces- 
sible as  those  who  contribute  them  may  desire. 

Short  series  of  such  things  as  building  stone ; useful  and  com- 
monly-used minerals  and  semi-precious  stones  used  in  the  arts ; 
plants  of  medicinal  and  general  economic  value  for  the  drugs, 
fibres,  dyes,  woods,  fruits,  etc.,  which  they  furnish ; insects  nota- 
bly harmful  and  beneficial, — these  are  made  from  duplicates  of 
the  science  collection  proper,  are  assembled  on  cards  or  in  small 
boxes,  are  fully  labeled  and  are  accompanied  with  leaflet  or 
pamphlet  stories.  These,  like  small  groups  of  industrial  pro- 
ducts, local  and  other,  are  lent  to  schools  in  large  numbers,  and 
a few  of  them  are  always  on  display  in  the  main  building  or 
branches  for  their  own  general  interest  and  to  call  attention  to 
the  character  of  the  whole  lending  collection. 

The  wide  range  of  objects  in  this  science  field ; the  great  im- 
portance of  the  interest  that  may  be  aroused  for  them  in  young 
people;  the  value  to  young  people  of  practicing,  even  for  a short 
time,  the  arts  of  the  collector ; the  help  that  young  people  can 
give  in  adding  to  the  collections  of  their  own  local  museum,  and 
the  increase  in  interest  in  that  museum  which  is  gained  by  one 
who  makes  even  modest  contributions  to  it,—  all  these  make  it 
plain  that  the  young  people  of  the  community  should  be  en- 
couraged to  collect,  first  for  themselves,  and  next  for  their  mu- 
seum. 

Several  museums  like  the  one  I am  projecting  have  been  very 
successful  in  their  attempts  to  discover  among  their  visitors 
boys  and  girls  who  are  interested  in  the  museum  itself  or  in 
groups  of  objects  that  the  museum  wishes  to  add  to  its  scheme. 
The  method  of  finding  these  young  museum  aids  is  usually  that 
of  giving  to  a person  of  modest  scientific  knowledge,  of  keen  in- 
terest in  natural  history  in  general,  of  strong  sympathy  with 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


39 


activities  of  curious  and  inquiring  children  and  of  experience  in 
the  art  of  teaching,  the  task  of  drawing  them  to  the  museum 
and  then  holding  their  interest  in  it.  She  watches  the  young 
visitors ; explains  things  to  them ; asks  questions ; suggests  that 
groups  come  to  be  instructed  in  the  arts  of  collecting,  arranging, 
mounting  and  labeling ; takes  with  them  a few  short  walks,  and 
leads  the  more  active  spirits  up  to  the  idea  of  forming  clubs  of 
their  own.  Our  institute  finds  this  process  slow  and  modest  in 
results ; but  it  also  finds  that  out  of  it  all  comes  a wider  and 
deeper  interest  among  young  people,  even  among  those  who  are 
not  active  members  of  any  group ; that  a few  of  the  more  in- 
tensely interested  collectors  add  no  small  sum  of  useful  objects 
to  the  museum  in  the  course  of  a year ; and  that  the  deeper  in- 
terest aroused  among  the  young  extends  itself  quite  naturally 
to  the  elders. 

The  proper  source  of  all  this  work  is  of  course  the  public 
schools.  But  a full  and  rigid  curriculum  leaves  little  time,  as  yet, 
for  the  discovery  and  development  by  teachers  of  the  kinds  of 
special  interest  in  a few  of  their  pupils  which  the  junior  museum 
we  have  been  describing  carries  on.  The  institute,  of  course, 
keeps  always  in  mind  the  school,  the  teacher,  the  course  of  study 
and  the  very  strong  influence  and  guidance  which  the  school 
management  can  give  in  all  work  of  this  kind.  Consequently  it 
reports  its  efforts  and  its  successes  to  the  school  authorities ; on 
every  possible  occasion  secures  the  sympathy  and  cooperation 
of  teachers,  and  finds  it  possible  to  pass  on  to  teachers  much  of 
the  work  which  it  initiates. 

Our  institute  has  a collection,  already  alluded  to,  of  about  a 
million  pictures  of  paintings,  sculptures,  architecture  and,  chief- 
ly, of  decorated  objects  of  daily  use.  It  is  classified  by  objects, 
schools,  periods,  etc.  These  are  used  by  students  in  the  building 
and  are  lent  freely  for  home,  studio,  school  and  factory  use. 


40 


A PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


They  form  one  of  the  most  valuable  assets  of  the  whole  institu- 
tion. 

Purposely  repeating  myself,  I ask  again  this  question : ’’ What- 
ever may  be  the  purpose  of  the  museum  of  the  old  type,  or  of 
the  new,  how  is  the  method  of  attaining  that  purpose  affected 
by  the  coming  of  the  picture?  ” Surely  those  methods  of  adding 
to  the  richness  and  fullness  of  life  and  of  enhancing  its  finer 
forms  of  activity,  which  were  proper  to  a time  when  the  picture 
was  a thing  painfully  wrought  by  the  hand  of  an  engraver,  and 
therefore  imperfect  as  a presentation  of  the  object  pictured  and 
slow  and  costly  as  well,  cannot  be  entirely  proper  now,  when 
we  are  supplied  by  scores  of  skilfully  employed  processes  with 
countless  pictures  of  all  things  under  the  heavens ; and  pictures, 
too,  which  every  day  approach  more  closely  to  precision  in  every 
detail  and  give  us  even  the  very  movements  of  Nature  herself. 

But  the  coming  of  the  picture  is  not  the  only  thing  which  is 
making  it  necessary  to  change  museum  method.  The  develop- 
ment of  industrial  processes,  the  growth  of  transportation  facili- 
ties and  the  increase  of  wealth  have  brought  into  being  the 
modern  city ; and  this  modern  city  spreads  before  the  eyes  of 
everyone  of  its  inhabitants,  through  its  countless  merchants, 
every  conceivable  kind  of  product.  In  their  galleries  and  stores 
may  be  seen  and,  one  may  almost  say,  must  be  seen  even  by  the 
casual  shopper  and  passer-by,  almost  every  kind  of  thing  that 
the  museum  gathers,  labels  and  displays.  The  merchant,  more- 
over, permits  a personal  investigation  of  his  gatherings,  which 
extends  even  to  a touch  and  a handling  that  are  forbidden  by 
the  museum  management.  Add  to  these  wares  of  the  merchant 
the  life  of  the  streets,  the  moving  picture  of  its  endless  and  infi- 
nitely varied  activities,  the  countless  productive  processes  of  the 
factories  open  to  almost  any  interested  visitor,  and  the  wonder- 
ful background  of  architecture,  and  we  of  our  cities  have  set 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


41 


before  us,  and  daily  filling  our  vision,  a museum-city  far  richer 
in  every  respect  than  any  city -museum  can  ever  be. 

And  it  should  be  noted,  in  speaking  of  objects  displayed  by 
merchants  and  of  those  displayed  by  museums,  that  the  latter 
are  looked  at  largely  as  a matter  of  duty,  and  largely  as  a part 
of  an  ungrateful  self-educational  process ; while  the  former  are 
looked  at  as  part  of  the  very  life  of  the  day,  as  possible  posses- 
sions, and  are  considered  deeply  as  to  quality  and  as  to  fitness 
for  certain  specific  purposes.  In  a word,  a visitor  goes  to  a mu- 
seum to  gaze  as  a duty,  with  some  hope  of  uplift ; but  to  a store 
to  enjoy,  to  compare  and  to  study  in  sheer  delight. 

The  picture,  the  moving  picture,  the  modern  city  and  the 
great  and  ever-changing  exhibitions  of  merchants  and  manu- 
facturers,— these  have  all  come  into  our  lives  in  vast  quantity 
and  infinite  variety  since  the  management  methods  of  the  con- 
ventional museum  were  developed  and  adopted.  And  to  these 
factors  should  be  added  the  public  school. 

What  changes  in  museum  management  do  these  new  social 
forces  call  for  ? It  is  no  doubt  as  yet  impossible  to  give  to  this 
question  a definite  answer.  And  it  is  because  no  definite  answer 
is  as  yet  possible,  and  because  it  is  nevertheless  so  obvious  that 
fundamental  changes  in  museums  are  demanded  by  these  new 
social  factors,  that  I have  ventured  to  prepare  and  publish  this 
group  of  suggestions  concerning  the  museum  of  the  future.  That 
the  suggestions  will  all  prove  to  be  good  it  would  be  absurd  to 
assume.  But  they  and  many  other  and  better  ones  should  be 
made,  and  studied  and  tested.  Only  by  a constant  testing  of  new 
methods  and  new  schemes  can  the  museum  of  the  present 
justify  its  existence.  A cursory  glance  at  to-day’s  world  of  pict- 
ure, print,  shop,  factory,  school  and  city  streets  makes  it  seem 
almost  needless. 

One  addition  to  museum  work,  of  wide  scope  and  almost 


42 


A PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


endless  variety,  seems  to  be  clearly  essential  — though  that  it  will 
make  museums  so  definitely  useful  as  to  assure  their  continu- 
ance no  one  can  say  — and  that  addition  is  teaching;  expert, 
carefully  directed  teaching.  It  is  to  this  addition  that  this  essay 
continuously  and  persistently  returns.  The  objects  the  museum 
-gathers  and  displays  and  also  the  new  flood  of  pictures ; the 
moving  pictures ; and  shops,  factories,  schools,  city  streets  and 
nature  herself,  all  these  may  form  part  of  the  new  museum's 
equipment. 

To  the  mere  sight  of  these  things  it  seems  clear  there  should 
be  added  instruction  concerning  them,  by  print,  by  more  pic- 
tures, and  by  the  skilful  teacher.  A brief  examination  of  the  re- 
cent reports,  bulletins  and  other  publications  of  our  museums 
makes  it  clear  that  most  of  them  have  vaguely  recognized  the 
vast  importance  of  this  new  factor,  and  are  devoting  to  its  ap- 
- plication  a very  modest  portion  of  their  incomes.  This  essay  is 
in  a measure  an  appeal  to  museum  promoters  and  managers  to 
reduce  materially  the  sums  spent  on  the  acquisition,  installation 
and  display  of  rare  and  curious  and  costly  objects,  and  to  spend 
the  money  thus  saved  on  a series  of  carefully  conducted,  min- 
utely reported  and  humbly  studied  experiments  in  museum 
teaching. 


The  main  buildings  of  our  public  museum  and  our  public  li- 
brary are  both  near  the  city's  travel  center,  and  are  therefore 
near  one  another.  The  library  of  the  museum  is,  in  fact,  a branch 
of  the  public  library,  from  which  it  receives  a daily  delivery  of 
books  and  other  material  needed  in  its  work.  It  is  quite  full  in 
all  the  subjects  which  the  collections  cover,  for  example,  peda- 
gogy, occupations,  trades,  fine  arts,  technique  of  museum  man- 
agement, making  of  collections  and  installation  of  exhibits.  It 
has,  of  course,  the  museum  literature  of  recent  years,  both  books 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


43 


and  journals,  including  the  late  publications  of  scores  of  mu- 
seums of  all  kinds.  It  includes  also  an  ample  collection  of  dic- 
tionaries and  encyclopedias,  and  the  best  and  latest  standard 
books  on  art,  pure  and  applied,  and  the  sciences..  The  collection 
of  a million  pictures  already  alluded  to,  including  many  thousand 
photographs,  supplements  the  books  in  countless  ways.  Museum 
libraries  do  not,  with  few  exceptions,  lend  their  books,  or  their 
photographs  and  other  pictures.  This  custom  reduces  their 
value  to  a minimum.  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  a point  of  time, 
in  the  life  of  any  visitor  who  has  shown  a lively  interest  in  some 
^of  the  museum's  collections,  when  a book  or  a package  of  pic- 
tures, or  both,  bearing  on  the  visitor's  line  of  special  interest, 
would  be  as  useful  to  him  and  as  productive  in  him  of  thoughts 
and  feelings  useful  to  his  community,  as  when  he  has  just  been 
examining  the  collections  which  attract  him.  Consequently,  this 
is  the  occasion  on  which  we  are  most  eager  to  hand  to  him  any 
book  or  picture  he  finds  he  wants  to  read  or  study.  The  non- 
lending habit  in  this  field  is  a mere  fashion,  of  course,  with  very 
little  save  precedent  to  support  it. 

Stereopticons  and  moving  pictures  are  possessed  in  large 
numbers  and  of  a character  appropriate  to  the  museum's  work. 
Several  rooms  of  various  sizes  can  be  adapted  to  their  use.  Slides, 
films  and  lanterns  are  used  in  branches  and  are  lent  for  educa- 
tional purposes.  The  use  of  the  moving  picture  as  an  educational 
tool  has  not  yet  been  sufficiently  studied  to  give  definite  conclu- 
sions. Its  possibilities  are  probably  very  great.  The  museum 
joins  in  the  effort  to  discover  how  it  can  be  used  to  the  greatest 
advantage. 

For  visitors  of  a certain  quality,  those  for  example  who  under- 
stand what  they  hear  better  than  what  they  read,  and  for  certain 
large  groups  of  visitors,  the  phonograph  is  used  to  give  short 
explanatory  talks.  The  machine,  when  set  in  motion,  repeats 


44 


A PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


an  interesting  story  concerning  a special  exhibit,  and  then 
automatically  sets  itself  for  a repetition.  An  attendant  handles 
it  in  some  cases,  usually  an  attendant  not  sufficiently  skilled  to 
give  the  talk  himself.  In  some  cases  the  machine  is  set  in  motion 
by  visitors  by  dropping  in  a coin,  or  a blank  furnished  at  the 
desk  for  the  purpose.  Thus  far  this  use  of  the  phonograph  is 
not  more  than  a promising  experiment.  Mr.  F.  J.  Urquhart  of 
the  Sunday  Call  of  Newark  was  the  first  person  to  suggest  this 
plan,  to  our  knowledge.  This  was  several  years  ago.  Others 
have  since  had  the  same  idea  and  it  has  been  tested  in  a few 
cases. 


The  whole  museum  is  in  itself  an  institution  for  encouraging 
the  use,  not  only  of  objects  in  its  possession  but  also  of  the  nat- 
ural and  man-made  features  of  the  city  and  its  immediate  sur- 
roundings. 

It  is  the  duty  of  certain  members  of  the  staff  to  know  the  city, 
and  particularly  to  know  of  the  persons,  objects,  processes,  civic 
and  educational  enterprises,  and  of  the  social  groups  and  the 
educational  work,  that  may  find  the  museum  helpful ; or  that 
can  be  of  service  to  those  who  come  to  the  museum  for  advice, 
information  or  assistance.  These  members  of  the  staff  form  a 
department  of  cooperation ; rather,  they  see  to  it  that  the  mu- 
seum and  city  are  always  working  together  at  all  possible  points. 

It  is  the  habit  of  the  city  to  turn  simultaneously  to  library  and 
museum  when  information  is  wanted.  A local  railroad  magnate 
or  automobile  manufacturer,  asked  by  a board  of  trade  or  a Sun- 
day school  class  to  speak  on  transportation,  naturally  calls  up 
the  museum  and  requests  a room  for  a few  days,  in  which  small 
models  and  pictures,  slides  etc.,  of  carriages,  ships,  and  the  like 
may  be  placed ; and  then  asks  the  library  to  send  appropriate 
books  and  material  on  transportation  to  that  room.  He  uses  the 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


45 


room  and  its  contents  for  the  hours  it  takes  him  to  collect  his 
data. 

It  is  the  custom  of  the  museum  to  send  to  the  parks  of  the 
neighborhood  some  of  its  moveable  collections  which  illustrate 
the  phenomena  then  and  there  visible.  And  the  park  managers 
send  to  the  museum  many  specimens  illustrating  natural  phe- 
nomena. All  art,  industry  and  science  schools  use  the  museum 
and  its  collections  just  so  far  as  falls  short  of  interfering  with 
their  more  democratic  use  by  the  city’s  laymen.  And  their  first 
impulse,  when  producing  or  acquiring  anything  capable  of  use 
in  visual  instruction,  is  to  duplicate  it  or  share  it  with  the  mu- 
seum. These  correlations  tend  to  prevent  unnecessary  duplica- 
tion of  collections. 

One  department  of  the  museum  contains  lists,  pictures  and 
reproductions  of  notable  art,  science  and  industrial  features  of 
the  city,  and  visual  information  as  to  its  political,  religious,  phil- 
anthropic and  civic  institutions.  In  architecture,  mentioned  only 
to  illustrate  the  statement  just  made,  much  use  is  made  of 
books,  pictures  and  models ; but  far  more  use  is  made  of  the 
architecture  of  the  city  itself.  This  is  studied,  described,  charac- 
terized and  used  as  the  basis  of  work,  both  in  the  school  depart- 
ment and  in  the  illumination  of  the  general  public. 

Those  in  charge  of  the  parks,  public  gardens  aud  shade-trees 
of  the  city  have  helped  to  make  the  science,  or  the  nature-study 
part  of  the  museum’s  work,  more  effective  in  many  ways. 

They  supply  samples  of  wood  and  branches  from  trees  of 
many  kinds.  These  show  bark,  sections  of  wood,  habits  of  branch- 
ing, form  of  buds,  and,  in  the  proper  season,  the  leaves,  blossoms 
and  fruit  of  so  many  trees  and  shrubs  as  the  museum  needs.  In 
late  winter  they  furnish  branches  of  many  kinds  which  are 
placed  in  water  in  the  museum  until  they  send  out  leaves  or 
blossoms.  In  summer  they  permit  the  museum,  under  proper 


46 


A PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM^ 


restrictions,  to  gather  flowers  of  all' kinds  and  these,  added  to 
the  wild  flowers,  form  in  the  museum  a procession  of  blooms 
and  fruit. 

In  the  larger  parks  they  have  erected,  in  consultation  with  rep- 
resentatives of  the  museum  and  the  schools,  several  buildings 
which  are  adjuncts  to  both  schools  and  museums.  These  build- 
ings are  used  by  the  park's  plant  expert  as  centers  for  labeling 
trees,  shrubs  and  flowers  and  for  the  work  of  flghting  plaiit  dis- 
eases and  noxious  insects.  At  certain  specified  hours  will  be 
found  here  during  all  the  summer  and  on  mild  days  in  winter, 
a member  of  the  park  staff  or  a skilled  teacher  from  the  schools 
or  the  museum,  ready  to  conduct  a teacher  and  her  class  on  a 
tour  of  the  park,  all  as  previously  arranged.  In  the  building, 
which  is  in  part  a small  nature  laboratory,  is  a lecture  or  study 
room  holding  about  sixty  persons,  and  a large  room  in  which 
collections  of  objects,  brought  in  by  park  authorities  or  by  visit- 
ing groups  under  the  former’s  specific  directions,  are  sorted  and 
discarded  or  arranged,  mounted  and  labeled.  The  best  examples 
are  reserved  for  the  permanent  exhibit  of  the  park’s  material, 
and  others  are  taken  to  the  museum  for  school  work. 

Of  the  work  of  these  small,  park-study-museums,  much  more 
could  be  said.  It  is  enough,  perhaps,  to  add  that  they  have  help- 
ed to  give  the  nature  study  or  science  work  of  the  schools  for 
the  first  time  a definite  and  substantial  value. 

Of  other  work  growing  out  of  this  cooperation  between 
schools,  parks  and  museums,  it  is  well  to  mention  the  small  geo- 
graphic forms,— rivers,  falls,  lakes,  islands,  etc.,  and  illustrations 
of  erosion,  formation  of  plains,  deltas,  etc.,  made  by  the  park 
authorities  in  the  parks,  under  school  and  museum  guidance; 
and  also  the  opportunities  which  the  parks  offer  for  the  study 
of  the  elements  of  geology. 

The  problem  of  cooperation  between  all  schools  and  teachers. 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


47 


the  museum  and  all  the  staff  of  the  parks  management,  has 
been  recently  solved  by  the  employment  of  an  expert  in  science 
teaching  who  has  general  supervision  of  the  whole  affair. 

In  addition  to  the  work  with  that  greatest  of  all  museums,  the 
people,  of  the  city,  their  products,  and  their  daily  activities,  and 
the  material  part  of  the  city  itself,  the  department  of  coopera- 
tion is  engaged  in  extending  the  museum's  field.  Artists,  design- 
ers, manufacturers,  sellers,  exporters  and  importers,  engineers, 
chemists  and  scientific  groups  and  individuals  are  asked  to  give 
help  in  widening  the  museum’s  activities  and  in  adding  to  its 
collections.  The  schools  are  studied  with  special  care  and  every 
possible  avenue  of  usefulness  to  them  is  sought.  Other  museums 
in  the  vicinity  are  asked  to  help. 

The  working  force  of  the  museum  is  made  up  of  persons  who 
like  to  do  things  and  wish  to  learn  how  to  do  them  better ; that 
is,  they  are  all  student  workers.  Experts  are  not  employed  as 
experts,  but  as  workers  whose  experience  and  knowledge  enable 
them  to  tell  some  of  their  associates  how  some  of  the  work  they 
wish  to  do  can  best  be  done.  Those  statements  merely  suggest 
the  general  attitude  which  members  of  the  staff  are  encouraged 
to  hold  toward  one  another  and  toward  the  museum’s  needs. 
For  new  members  to  the  junior  staff  a simple  course  of  reading, 
study,  inspection  and  work  is  laid  out,  varying  somewhat  for 
each  one. 

The  activities  of  the  whole  institution  are  divided  into  depart- 
ments, under  semi-independent  heads  or  chiefs,  only  so  far  as 
the  demands  for  easy  and  effective  work  make  such  division 
quite  imperative.  The  department  method  of  administration  is 
very  agreeable  to  most  workers,  and  especially  to  those  who 
through  it  gain,  as  heads,  dominion  over  a certain  field  of  work 
and  authority  over  subordinates.  This  fact,  and  the  fact  that 
the  " expert  ” is  especially  desirous  of  having  his  own  special 


48 


A PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


field,  in  which  he  may  supervise  and  direct, — both  facts  flowing 
from  well-recognized  tendencies  in  human  nature,— make  it  al- 
most imperative  that  departmentation  be  tolerated  to  some  ex- 
tent. But  it  divides  a working  force,  as  its  very  name  indicates, 
into  groups.  These,  very  naturally,  tend  to  hold  themselves 
apart  from  one  another  and  desire  to  establish  between  each 
other  solid  walls  of  distinction. 

In  place  of  this  cleavage  into  groups  by  and  through  differen- 
ces in  work,  in  kinds  of  knowledge  and  expertness  and  in  vari- 
eties of  likings  and  feelings,  the  staff  is  directed  chiefly  by 
through-and-through  supervision.  Great  care  is  taken  to  find  for 
each  worker  the  kind  of  work  for  which  she  is,  by  native  bent 
and  by  training  and  experience,  best  fitted.  Every  effort  is  then 
made  to  keep  clearly  in  each  worker’s  mind  the  fact  that  all 
that  she  does  is  part  of  a common  product ; — the  museum’s 
output  in  influence  for  the  community’s  happiness  and  profit. 
An  expert  is  encouraged  to  make  the  most  of  what  lies  within 
his  field,  that  he  may  produce  a semi-detached  product  not  as 
a witness  to  his  skill  and  learning,  but  as  an  added  somewhat  to 
the  whole  museum’s  arm  amentum. 

By  repressing  quasi-independent  groups,  and  by  guiding  all 
work  largely  by  through-and-through  supervision  we  eliminate 
as  far  as  possible  the  feeling  that  one’s  immediate  task  is  an  end 
in  itself  and  not  a means  to  a far  more  important  end.  At  the 
same  time  we  succeed  in  fair  degree  in  leading  the  museum 
staff  to  look  upon  itself  as  a body  of  students  without  teachers, 
and  not  as  groups  of  pupils  each  under  a master.  And  the  whole 
institution  presents  itself  to  the  public  as  a collection  of  objects 
which  a group  of  student-workers  is  trying  so  to  administer  as 
to  make  it  accessible,  enjoyable  and  useful. 

The  several  units  of  the  staff  work  together  as  learners.  The 
teaching  and  the  pupilage  states  of  mind  are  inhibited  as  far  as 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


49 


this  is  humanly  possible,  and  the  inquiring  visitor  usually  finds 
at  once  that  he  is  addressing  a learner,  like  himself,  and  not  an 
adept,  self-isolated  by  his  consummate  intellectual  excellencies 
or  an  expert  conspicuously  and  inhospitably  hall-marked. 

To  the  staff  as  learners  are  joined  as  closely  and  as  frequently 
as  possible  teachers  from  the  schools  of  the  city,  especially  in 
the  study  of  the  art  of  visual  instruction.  My  belief  that  little  is 
yet  known  concerning  this  art  has  already  been  expressed.  Here 
it  is  mentioned  again  only  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  every 
opportunity  is  taken  to  make  experiments,  to  note  results  and 
to  urge  teachers  to  do  the  same,  as  they  borrow  and  use  in  their 
school-rooms  objects  from  the  museum. 


The  work  shops  include  the  places  in  which  museum  work  is 
done,  from  the  receipt,  examination,  recording,  photographing 
and  cleaning  and  repairing  of  some  ancient,  rare,  beautiful  and 
costly  gift  like  an  early  textile,  to  the  making  of  a simple  case 
to  hold  a few,' geological  specimens  for  lending.  The  shops  are 
not  rooms,  save  for  a few  types  of  work ; but  spaces  to  which 
the  public  have  access.  Separated  from  workers  only  by  railings, 
visitors  can  see  the  work  that  goes  to  the  making  of  an  active, 
teaching  institution.  Here  boys  and  girls  note  how  artisan,  me- 
chanic or  craftsman  treats  the  museum's  rare  material  and 
brings  it  into  form  for  use  in  visual  instruction. 

Child  and  man  alike  are  somewhat  moved  to  interest,  appre- 
ciation, clear  understanding  and  development  of  their  powers, 
by  reading  of  a thing  or  process ; they  are  still  more  moved  by 
seeing  the  actual  thing  or  process  and  learning  of  it  through  the 
ear ; still  more  by  handling  and  hearing  and  asking  questions 
and  receiving  replies ; and  most  of  all  by  trying,  under  skilful 
guidance,  to  produce  the  thing  or  to  repeat  the  process. 

The  museum,  therefore,  is  a workshop  of  education,  in  which 


50 


A PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


objects  are  handled,  descriptions  are  given,  questions  are  asked 
and  answered,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  visitors  are  moved  to  at- 
tempt, chiefly  in  school  or  at  home,  to  produce  objects  of  inter- 
est to  themselves  or  of  instructional  value  to  the  community. 

Many  children  in  the  city  are  led  by  what  they  read  and  hear 
and  see,  in  school  and  museum,  to  make  and  install  exhibits  for 
museum  and  school  use,  from  models  of  kites  and  bird-houses, 
to  life  histories  of  birds  and  insects.  What  they  create  is  used 
in  the  museum  itself,  in  its  branches,  in  the  schools,  in  cooper- 
ating museums,  and  especially  in  and  by  the  state’s  central 
museum,  which  never  has  enough  of  the  simple  and  less  expen- 
sive exhibits  of  natural  history  in  all  its  phases,—  from  harmful 
insects  to  forest  preservation, — to  meet  the  ever-increasing  de- 
mand therefor  from  all  over  the  state. 


Branches  and  the  lending  of  objects  have  already  been  dis- 
cussed ; but  the  great  importance  of  these  two  lines  of  develop- 
ment and  activity  are  so  important  as  to  make  repetition  there- 
on almost  essential. 

One  central  museum  can  be  of  slight  benefit  to  all  the  people 
of  a large  city,— since  not  all  can  easily  and  quickly  reach  it;— 
unless  it  extends  its  work  in  the  two  ways  already  alluded  to  :— 
by  lending  objects  and  by  establishing  branch  museums.  Our 
museum,  as  repeatedly  stated,  lends  its  objects  freely.  Partic- 
ularly does  it  make  use,  for  lending  purposes,  of  its  vast  collec- 
tion of  pictures.  It  lends  also  objects  in  the  field  of  applied  art, 
these  being  chiefly  either  inexpensive  originals  or  inexpensive 
copies  of  rare  originals ; and  it  even  lends  paintings,  casts  of 
sculpture  and  bronzes  to  schools  and  individuals  under  proper 
conditions.  Indeed,  the  loans  range  from  a fossil,  wanted  by  a 
lecturer  to  complete  what  he  shows  at  a talk,  to  a doll,  wanted 
by  a dramatic  club  as  a model  for  costume  effects ; from  a vase 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


51 


for  a still  life  group,  wanted  by  an  invalid  who  paints  in  her 
bedroom,  to  an  entire  case  illustrating  'textile  history  for  the 
employees  of  a silk  mill ; or  to  an  entire  hallful  of  pictures  want- 
ed by  the  museum  of  a neighboring  village  for  its  spring  exhibi- 
tion. 

The  branches  are  in  some  cases  little  more  than  rooms,  like 
stores,  fronting  on  the  street,  at  the  street  level,  in  business  parts 
of  the  city.  Some  are  in  buildings  of  their  own.  Others  are  in 
factories,  stores,  schools,  settlements,  clubs  and  churches. 
They  are  decorated  and  finished  in  accordance  with  the  uses 
made  of  them.  Some  contain,  at  times,  little  more  than  a few 
chairs  set  before  one  or  two  paintings  or  sculptures,  which  are 
so  placed  and  lighted  that  they  can  be  seen,  day  or  evening, 
with  the  maximum  of  pleasure  and  the  minimum  of  fatigue. 
With  these  are  very  full  labels,  in  large  type,  supplemented  by 
descriptive  leaflets  which  bring  the  objects  described  into  direct 
relation  with  daily  life  and  encourage  thought  and  study.  Some 
are  distributing  centers,  with  a museum  assistant  in  charge  who 
is  able  not  only  to  discover  the  needs  of  teachers  but  also  to  as- 
sist borrowers  in  the  art  of  using  to  the  best  advantage. 

No  one  of  the  branches  is  all  the  time  a show  room,  though 
any  one  of  them  may  be  little  more  than  a show  room,  as  indi- 
cated above,  for  a brief  period  now  and  again.  Every  branch 
aims  to  be  a complete  teaching  museum,  and  is  as  far  as  possi- 
ble fitted  to  the  character  of  its  neighborhood  and  to  the  degree 
of  education  and  the  occupations  of  its  residents. 


As  our  museum  is  itself  a school,  in  which  all  members  of  the 
staff  are  both  students  and  teachers,— having,  as  the  latter,  only 
such  authority  to  teach  as  their  learning  and  experience  gives 
them,  and,  as  the  former,  every  incentive  to  learn  without  the 
compulsion  of  pupilhood,—  it  is  plain  that  the  opportunities  for 


52 


A PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


studentship  which  may  be  offered  to  outsiders  are  limited  only 
by  space  and  the  absorptive  power  of  the  whole  organization. 
Student  workers  are  admitted  on  examination.  The  examina- 
tion tests  applicants  for  habits  of  industry ; for  serious  intent ; 
for  accuracy ; for  thorough  grounding  in  such  education  as  is 
found  a necessary  equipment  for  helpfulness  in  the  several  lines 
of  museum  work  in  which  assistance  is  needed,  from  carpentry 
to  archaeology ; for  definiteness  of  aim,  and  for  manners  and 
good  repute. 

Visiting  students  who  come  in  for  independent  study  are  wel- 
come up  to  the  limit  of  space  and  the  proper  supervision  of 
books  and  objects  used. 

The  museum  makes  arrangements  for  lectures  or  class  work 
by  members  of  its  staff ; but  only  as  such  may  be  requested  by 
groups  of  students  who  give  reasonable  assurance  of  definite- 
ness of  purpose,  are  confessedly  of  that  quality  of  mind  which 
finds  it  impossible  to  learn  by  studying,  and  are  willing  frankly 
to  admit  that  they  are  in  the  pupil  stage  of  their  development. 
Of  such  classes  a rigid  system  of  records  is  kept,  that  the  mu- 
seum may  be  assured  that  the  time  its  assistants  give  to  teach- 
ing, in  either  the  class  or  the  lecture  manner,  is  not  wasted  on 
mental  sponges  or  on  those  temporarily  possessed  by  a fad. 

In  a word,  the  museum  is  a place  for  students  and  workers, — 
rather  for  those  who  wish  to  work  hard  at  studying.  As  such  a 
place  it  may  be  called  a school,  in  the  usual  sense  of  that  word, 
of  designing,  of  drawing,  of  art,  of  science,  of  museum  method 
or  any  other  subject,  only  as  it  is  made  so  by  those  studying 
within  its  walls,  or  outside  its  walls  with  the  help  of  loans  from 
from  its  collections.  These  students  form  themselves  into 
groups;  certify  the  museum  as  to  their  seriousness  and  their 
fitness ; ask  for  and  receive  members  of  the  staff,—  and  even  on 
occasion,  persons  who  are  not  members,— as  guides,  fellow 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


53 


students,  student  workers,  or  ” professors  ”,  and  proceed  to  go 
seriously  at  the  acquisition  of  that  for  which  they  have  united. 

An  explanation  and  an  excuse,  if  they  are  needed,  of  the  appar- 
ent formlessness  of  this  manner  of  schooling  within  the  museum 
are  found  in  the  ever-present  and  never-forgotten  fact  that  the 
museum  is  the  assistant  to  and  the  handmaiden  of  all  the  formal 
educational  activity  of  the  whole  city.  It  is  an  ” institute  of  vis- 
ual instruction  This  means  that  it  is  far  more  than  a store- 
house of  objects  which  may  be  used  in  object  teaching,  for  it  is 
an  object  teaching  school,  itself.  But,  the  city's  educational  ac- 
tivities, from  the  kindergartens  through  to  the  local  university, 
are  all  of  the  conventional  teacher  and  pupil  type,  of  course. 
And  the  museum  finds  it,  thus  far,  unwise  to  attempt  to  add  to 
this  huge  body  of  class-room  work,— to  the  improvement  of 
which,  by  the  use  of  its  materials,  it  devotes  much  of  its  ener- 
gies— by  the  development  within  itself  of  "courses”,  thus 
necessarily  duplicating  work  which  is  being  done  in  the 
schools. 

Though  the  museum  withholds  itself  from  the  field  of  formal 
instruction  so  far  as  its  character  as  an  institute  of  visual  in- 
struction permits,  the  very  nature  of  its  collections,  and  of  the 
labels,  leaflets,  guides  and  handbooks  that  go  with  them,  compel 
it  to  act  continually  as  a teacher.  The  mere  process  of  setting 
up  an  object  to  be  looked  at,  giving  it  a label  and  putting  it  in  a 
certain  sequential  relation  with  objects,  is  pedagogic;  that  is,  it 
aims  to  interest  and  to  instruct.  The  museum  teaches,  therefore, 
in  its  main  building  and  wherever  any  of  its  objects  go.  But  its 
work  is  not  of  the  class-room.  It  gives  talks  or  lectures,  singly 
or  in  series,  to  groups  of  children  or  adults,  with  other  than  def- 
inite pedagogic  aims  always  in  mind.  It  seeks  through  them  to 
gain  a certain  needed  publicity  or  popularity ; to  discover  by 
and  through  them.if  its  methods  of  installation  and  its  notes  and 


54 


A PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


labels  are  well  fitted  for  their  purposes,  and  to  persuade  teachers 
to  use  museum  objects  in  class-room  work  by  showing  them 
some  of  the  ways  in  which  such  objects  can  be  used. 

It  is  true  that  most  museums  are  better  equipped  financially, 
by  reason  of  limitations  set  on  their  incomes,  for  the  purchase 
of  rarities  of  high  market  value  than  they  are  for  carrying  on 
the  kinds  of  work  I have  outlined.  But  this  unfortunate  condi- 
tion is  not  permanent  and  in  many  museums  is  rapidly  being 
removed.  Trustees  and  donors  begin  to  see  that  money  which 
could  be  used  for  active  work,  with  definite  educational  results 
in  view,  should  not  be  surrendered  to  the  purchase  of  very  ex- 
pensive objects,  objects  to  which  a few  point  with  pride  and  on 
which  a few  gaze  with  that  improper  self-satisfaction  which  is 
bought  at  the  cost  of  museum  fatigue. 

The  phrase  ” improper  self-satisfaction”  requires  explanation. 

I have  had  ample  opportunity  to  learn  that  one  who  criticizes 
any  aspect  of  an  institution  whose  general  character  is  so  well 
established  in  public  opinion  as  is  that  of  the  conventional  mu- 
seum of  art,  is  at  once,  by  most  persons,  assumed  to  be  critical 
of  that  institution  in  its  entirety.  If  I venture  to  say  that  a pub- 
lic-supported museum  should  be  of  definite  use  to  its  community, 
and  that  by  the  mere  display  to  a few  random  visitors  of  costly 
works  of  art  in  its  galleries  it  is  not  of  definite  use,  I am  at  once 
charged  with  saying  that  no  community  should  make  for  itself 
a collection  of  [the  world’s  art  treasures.  This  manner  of  con- 
demnation and  of  summary  dismissal  of  the  innovator  is  univer- 
sal and  inevitable.  But  it  is,  in  fact,  as  unjust  and  unintelligent  an 
opinion  as  is  that  which  leads  one  to  call  him  a blasphemer  who 
speaks  disrespectfully  of  the  architecture  of  a cathedral.  The 
fact  is  that  I believe  that  a community,— and  by  that  word  I 
mean  any  fairly  prosperous  town  or  city  in  this  country,—  can 
well  afford  to  collect,  and  ought  to  collect,  beautiful  objects,  far 

/ 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


55 


more  of  them  and  far  more  expensive  ones  than  any  city  has 
yet  gathered  for  itself;  it  ought  to  house  them  permanently, 
beautifully,  and  in  such  a manner  as  to  keep  them  from  all  pos- 
sible harm.  Every  town  and  every  city  almost  without  exception 
can  afford  to  do  this,  and,  as  I said,  ought  to  do  this.  But  when 
it  does  this  it  ought  clearly  to  understand  precisely  what  it  is 
doing ; and  if  it  does  not  thus  clearly  understand  what  it  is  doing 
then  it  ought  to  be  told,  and  the  persons  whose  peculiar  duty  it 
is  thus  to  inform  it  are,  not  lay  preachers  of  museum  gospel, 
like  myself,  but  museum  persons,  museum  workers,  and  experts 
in  the  art  and  science  of  museum  management.  The  thing  a city 
is  doing  when  it  thus  collects  beautiful  things  and  beautifully 
and  carefully  houses  them  is  — just  that  and  nothing  more.  It  is 
putting  the  rich  products  of  its  purchasing  power  into  a storage 
warehouse.  It  is  not  making  those  products  of  effective  use,  save 
to  a very  small  degree,  in  adding  to  the  pleasure,  the  general 
enlightenment,  the  physical  well-being  and  the  industrial  power 
of  its  citizens. 

If  this  is  denied,  let  us  look  for  a moment  at  the  facts.  Our 
richest  museums  of  the  general  storage  warehouse  type,  receive 
in  a year  a total  of  visits  equal  to,  say,  ten  per  cent  of  the  per- 
manent population  of  their  respective  cities.  Subtract  from  this 
total  the  visits  of  transients  and  all  visits  after  the  first  of  res- 
idents, and  there  remains,  of  the  visits  of  residents  for  instruc- 
tion, enlightenment  and  inspiration  a few  thousands  only.  Of 
these  thousands  a few  hundred  attend  one  or  more  lectures, 
which  are  to  them  in  most  cases  mere  titillations  of  their  intel- 
lects via  their  auditory  centers,  having  no  relation  to  their  men- 
tal development  or  to  their  trades,  vocations  or  professions.  And 
of  these  few  thousands  a still  smaller  number  are  conducted  in 
groups  through  the  museum  and  thus  acquire  a few  fragments 
of  information  concerning  a few  exhibits. 


56 


A PLAN  FOR  A USEFUL  MUSEUM 


The  buildings  and  collections  forming  the  material  present^ 
ments  of  these  museums  are  of  slight  cost  relatively  to  the 
wealth  of  their  respective  cities ; but  of  high  cost  when  consid- 
ered as  the  underlying  planks  or  the  foundations  of  educational 
institutions,  and  as  such  planks  their  product  in  definite  influ- 
ence on  their  respective  communities  is,  as  shown  by  figures  I 
have  roughly  estimated,  most  lamentably  slight.  In  fact  they 
are  so  slight  as  to  make  seem  quite  reasonable  the  statement  I 
have  elsewhere  made  to  the  effect  that  no  other  public  educa- 
tional institutions  give  so  little  return  for  the  money  spent  on 
them  as  do  art  museums. 

Now,  we  desire  beauty.  We  are  by  nature  as  artistic  as  was 
ever  any  people.  We  wish  to  learn.  We  wish  all  things  that  we 
produce  to  have  that  indefinable  somewhat  which  would  give 
them  unmistakable  and  permanent  charm.  And  to  us  come  the 
wealthy,  and  our  mayors,  and  our  aldermen,  and  tell  us  that 
they  have  noted  our  desire  for  the  beautification  of  life,  and  that 
they  will  help  us  to  achieve  it.  Therefore,  they  build  us  a temple 
of  art  in  a remote  corner,  and  put  into  its  stately  but  wearisome 
halls  long  files  of  costly  products  of  the  past ; and  make  it  all  so 
pretentious,  so  cold  and  so  unsympathetic  that  we  do  not  visit 
it  at  all ! And  then  by  the  power  of  wealth,  of  high  cost,  of  great 
age  and  of  expertness,  they  so  obfuscate  us  that  we  believe  that 
what  we  see  in  their  temple  is  very  art  of  very  art,  and  that  it 
is  to  be  seen  nowhere  else ; and  that  our  efforts  to  make  beauti- 
ful our  own  modest  homes  are  pitiful  and  laughable. 

Consider,  now,  a museum’s  possibilities  in  promoting  the 
quest  for  that  form  of  broadening  our  daily  life  which  we  call 
beautification. 

In  its  city  are  thousands  of  shops,  factories,  stores  and  homes. 
In  these  are  hundreds  and  thousands  of  workers ; and  do  not 
forget  that  those  who  manage  and  those  who  labor  in  the  homes 


A RECORD  AND  A PROPHECY 


57 


are  as  truly  workers  as  are  those  in  the  factories.  Assume  for  a 
moment  that  the  wealthy  citizens  and  the  governors  of  the  city 
are  willing  and  eager  to  spend  their  own  and  the  public’s  funds 
in  an  effort  to  make  more  agreeable,  more  beautiful,  more  en- 
duringly  satisfying,  the  products  of  the  factories  and  the  tools 
of  domestic  life.  Thereupon,  in  the  center  of  the  city,  they  set 
up  what  they  are  pleased  to  call  a museum,  and  they  place  in 
this  museum,  as  workers,  a group  of  men  and  women  who  are 
sensitive  to  the  appeal  of  beauty ; are  persistent  students  of 
beauty,  down  to  its  most  modest  appearance  in  the  decoration 
of  a broom  handle;  are  skilled  in  the  arts  of  presentation  and 
appeal,  and  believe  that  most  of  their  fellows  are  glad  to  learn, 
but  that  they  learn  best  who  are  least  conscious  of  being  taught. 
This  staff  of  workers  surveys  the  city  and  its  life  and  industries. 
It  discovers  what  it  produces  and  what  it  uses ; and  the  things 
produced  by  it  and  the  things  used  by  it  are  by  the  museum 
staff  gathered  in  typical  examples  into  the  museum.  By  these 
are  placed  examples,  from  other  cities  and  other  times,  of  kin- 
dred things,  sometimes  originals,  sometimes  copies,—  and  often 
merely  pictures  of  them.  It  arranges  these  for  display  and  labels 
them  freely  and  describes  them  in  leaflets,  and,  on  occasion, 
sends  groups  of  them  to  schools,  factories  and  storerooms  in  all 
parts  of  the  city.  And  then  .'it  says  to  the  citizens,  ” Come  and 
see.  We  think  you  will  find  that,  as  a result  of  such  a study  and 
daily  use  of  what  we  can  show  you  in  your  museum  or  as  we 
can  help  you  to  make  in  your  homes  and  factories,  your  products 
will  sell  better  and  at  higher  prices,  your  homes  will  give  you 
more  pleasure,  your  knowledge  of  and  sympathy  with  the  peo- 
ples of  other  lands  and  other  times  will  be  broader  and  deeper, 
and  you  will  get  more  enjoyment  out  of  every  working  hour.” 
And  that,  briefly,  is  the  text  upon  which  I have  tried  to  con- 
struct this  little  volume. 


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